©l|f  i.  1.  Itll  iCtbrara 


5Jnrtb  (Carolina  S>lalp 

SFI05 
g6 


IC     CT6TC    IJMVERSITY      D.H.    HILL    LIBRARY 

S00246005  H 


'1277 


This  book  is  due  on  the  dateindic^^^t^0ft 
and  is  subject  to  a  fine  of  wBBi^WrSa 
day  thereafter. 


OEC  3  1 1998 
DEC  2  2 1999 

APR  2  5  2003 


THi: 


PRINCIPLES   OF   BREEDING 


GLIMPSES  AT  THE  PHYSIOLOGICAL  LAWS 


CONNECTED  WITH   THE 


EEPRODUCTION  OF  DOMESTIC  ANIMALS. 


S.    L:'  GOODALE, 

SECRETARY   OF  THE  MAINE  BOARD   OF   AGRICULTURE. 


BOSTON: 

A.    WILLIAMS    &    00 
1861. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1861, 

By  STEPHEN  L.  GOODALE, 

In  tlie  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Maine. 


PREFACE. 


The  writer  has  had  frequent  occasion  to  notice  the 
want  of  some  handy  book  embodying  the  principles 
necessary  to  be  understood  in  order  to  secure  improve- 
ment in  Domestic  Animals. 

It  has  been  his  aim  to  supply  this  want. 

In  doing  so  he  has  availed  himself  freely  of  the 
knowledge  suppHed  by  others,  the  aim  being  to  furnish 
a  useful,  rather  than  an  original  book. 

If  it  serve  in  any  measure  to  supply  the  want,  and 
to  awaken  greater  interest  upon  a  matter  of  vital  im- 
portance to  the  agricultural  interests  of  the  country, 
the  writer's  purpose  will  be  accomplished. 


cox^te:s^ts. 


PARE. 

Chapter  I. — Introductory, 7 

II. — Law  of   Similarity, 21 

III. — Law  of  Variation, 33 

IV. — Atavism  or  Ancestral  Influence,      .  61 

V. — Relative  Influence  of  the  Parents,  68 

VI. — Law  of  Sex, 89 

VII. — In-and-in  Breeding, 94 

VIII.— Crossing, 105 

IX. — Breeding  in  the  Line, 119 

X. — Characteristics  of  Breeds,  ....  12T 


THE 


PRINCIPLES   OF  BEEEDI^sG. 


CHAPTER   I. 

Introductory. 

The  object  of  the  husbandman,  like  that  of  men  en- 
gaged in  other  avocations,  is  profit;  and  like  other  men 
the  farmer  may  expect  success  proportionate  to  the 
skill,  care,  judgment  and  perseverance  with  which  his 
operations  are  conducted. 

The  better  policy  of  farmers  generally,  is  to  make 
stock  husbandry  in  some  one  or  more  of  its  departments 
a  leading  aim — that  is  to  say,  while  they  shape  their 
operations  according  to  the  circumstances  in  which 
they  are  situated,  these  should  steadily  embrace  the 
conversion  of  a  large  proportion  of  the  crops  grown 
into  animal  products, — and  this  because,  by  so  doing, 
they  may  not  only  secure  a  present  livelihood,  but  best 
maintain  and  increase  the  fertility  of  their  lands. 

The  object  of  the  stock  grower  is  to  obtain  the  most 
valuable   returns   from   his   vegetable   products.      He 


Library 
JSI'.  C.  State  Colle^ri 


8  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


needs,  as  Bakewell  happily  expressed  it,  ''  the  best 
machine  for  converting  herbage  and  other  animal  food 
into  money." 

He  will  therefore  do  well  to  seek  such  animals  as  are 
most  perfect  of  their  kind — such  as  will  pay  best  for 
the  expense  of  procuring  the  machinery,  for  the  care 
^  and  attention  bestowed,  and  for  the  consumption  of  raw 
^material.  The  returns  come  in  various  forms.  They 
may  or  may  not  be  connected  with  the  ultimate  value 
of  the  animal.  In  the  beef  ox  and  the  mutton  sheep, 
they  are  so  connected  to  a  large  extent ;  in  the  dairy 
cow  and  the  fine  wooled  sheep,  this  is  quite  a  secondary 
consideration  ; — in  the  horse,  valued  as  he  is  for  beauty, 
speed  and  draught,  it  is  not  thought  of  at  all. 

Not  only  is  there  a  wide  range  of  field  for  operations, 
from  which  the  stock  grower  may  select  his  own  path  of 
procedure,  but  there  is  a  demand  that  his  attention  be 
directed  with  a  definite  aim,  and  towards  an  end  clearly 
apprehended.  The  first  question  to  be  answered,  is, 
what  do  we  want?  and  the  next,  how  shall  we  get  it? 

What  we  want,  depends  wholly  upon  our  situation 
and  surroundings,  and  each  must  answer  it  for  himself. 
In  England  the  problem  to  be  solved  by  the  breeder  of 
neat  cattle  and  sheep  is  how  "to  produce  an  animal  or 
a  living  machine  which  with  a  certain  quantity  and 
quality  of  food,  and  under  certain  given  circumstances. 


INTRODUCTORY.  9 


shall  yield  in  the  shortest  time  the  largest  quantity  and 
best  quality  of  beef,  mutton  or  milk,  with  the  largest 
profit  to  the  producer  and  at  least  cost  to  the  con- 
sumer/' But  this  is  not  precisely  the  problem  for 
American  farmers  to  solve,  because  our  circumstances 
are  different.  Few,  if  any,  here  grow  oxen  for  beef 
alone,  but  for  labor  and  beef,  so  that  earliest  possible 
maturity  may  be  omitted  and  a  year  or  more  of  labor 
profitably  intervene  before  conversion  to  beef.  Many 
cultivators  of  sheep,  too,  are  so  situated  as  to  prefer 
fine  wool,  which  is  incompatible  with  the  largest  quan- 
tity and  best  quality  of  meat.  Others  differently  situ- 
ated in  regard  to  a  meat  market  would  do  well  to  follow 
the  English  practice  and  aim  at  the  most  profitable 
production  of  mutton.  A  great  many  farmers,  not  only 
of  those  in  the  vicinity  of  large  towns,  but  of  those  at 
some  distance,  might,  beyond  doubt,  cultivate  dairy 
qualities  in  cows,  to  great  advantage,  and  this  too, 
even,  if  necessary,  at  the  sacrifice,  to  considerable  ex- 
tent, of  beef  making  qualities.  As  a  general  thing 
dairy  qualities  have  been  sadly  neglected  in  years  past. 
Whatever  may  be  the  object  in  view,  it  should  be 
clearly  apprehended,  and  striven  for  with  persistent  and 
well  directed  efforts.  To  buy  or  breed  common  animals 
of  mixed  qualities  and  use  them  for  any  and  for  all  pur- 
poses is  too  much  like  a  manufacturer  of  cloth  pro- 


10  PRINCIPLES  OF   BREEDING. 


curing  some  carding,  spinning  and  weaving  machinery, 
adapted  to  no  particular  purpose  but  which  can  some- 
how be  used  for  any,  and  attempting  to  make  fabrics 
of  cotton,  of  wool,  and  of  linen  with  it.  I  do  not  say 
that  cloth  would  not  be  produced,  but  he  would  assur- 
edly be  slow  in  getting  rich  by  it. 

The  stock  grower  needs  not  only  to  have  a  clear  and 
definite  aim  in  view,  but  also  to  understand  the  means 
by  which  it  may  best  be  accomplished.  Among  these 
means  a  knowledge  of  the  principles  of  breeding  holds 
a  prominent  place,  and  this  is  not  of  very  easy  acquisi- 
tion by  the  mass  of  farmers.  The  experience  of  any 
one  man  would  ^o  but  a  little  way  towards  acquiring 
it,  and  there  has  not  been  much  published  on  the  sub- 
ject in  any  form  within  the  reach  of  most.  I  have  been 
able  to  find  nothing  like  an  extended  systematic  treatise 
on  the  subject,  either  among  our  own  or  the  foreign 
agricultural  literature  which  has  come  within  my  no- 
tice. Indeed,  from  the  scantiness  of  what  appears  to 
have  been  written,  coupled  with  the  fact  that  much 
knowledge  must  exist  somewhere,  one  is  tempted  to 
believe  that  not  all  which  might  have  done  so,  has  yet 
found  its  way  to  printers'  ink.  That  a  great  deal  has 
been  acquired,  we  know,  as  we  know  a  tree — by  its 
fruits.  That  immense  achievements  have  been  accom- 
plished is  beyond  doubt. 


INTRODUCTORY.  H 


The  improvement  of  the  domestic  animals  of  a  coun- 
try so  as  g-reatly  to  enhance  their  individual  and  aggre- 
gate value,  and  to  render  the  rearing  of  them  more 
profitable  to  all  concerned,  is  surely  one  of  the  achieve- 
ments of  advanced  civilization  and  enlightenment,  and 
is  as  much  a  triumph  of  science  and  skill  as  the  con- 
struction of  a  railroad,  a  steamship,  an  electric  tele- 
graph, or  any  work  of  architecture.  If  any  doubt  this, 
let  them  ponder  the  history  of  those  breeds  of  animals 
which  have  made  England  the  stock  nursery  of  the 
world,  the  perfection  of  which  enables  her  to  export 
thousands  of  animals  at  prices  almost  fabulously  beyond 
their  value  for  any  purpose  but  to  propagate  their  kind ; 
let  them  note  the  patient  industry,  the  genius  and  ap- 
plication which  have  been  put  forth  to  bring  them  to 
the  condition  they  have  attained,  and  their  doubts  must 
cease. 

Eobert  Bakewell  of  Dishley,  was  one  of  the  first  of 
these  improvers.  Let  us  stop  for  a  moment's  glance 
at  him.  Born  in  1T25,  on  the  farm  where  his  father 
and  grandfather  had  been  tenants,  he  began  at  the  age 
of  thirty  to  carry  out  the  plans  for  the  improvement  of 
domestic  animals  upon  which  he  had  resolved  as  the 
result  of  long  and  patient  study  and  reflection.  He 
was  a  man  of  genius,  energy  and  perseverance.  With 
sagacity  to  conceive  and  fortitude  to  perfect  his  designs, 


12  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


he  laid  his  plans  and  struggled  against  many  disap- 
pointments, amid  the  ridicule  and  predictions  of  failure 
freely  bestowed  by  his  neighbors, — often  against  serious 
pecuniary  embarrassments  ;  and  at  last  was  crowned  by 
a  wonderful  degree  of  success.  When  he  commenced 
letting. his  rams,  (a  system  first  introduced  by  him  and 
adhered  to  during  his  life,  in  place  of  selling,)  they 
brought  him  lis.  Qd.  each,  for  the  season.  This  was 
ten  years  after  he  commenced  his  improvements.  Soon 
the  iDrice  came  to  a  guinea,  then  to  two  or  three  guin- 
eas— rapidly  increasing  with  the  reputation  of  his  stock, 
until  in  1784,  they  brought  him  100  guineas  each  ! 
Five  years  later  his  lettings  for  one  season  amounted 
to  $30,000  ! 

With  all  his  skill  and  success  he  seemed  afraid  lest 
others  might  profit  by  the  knowledge  he  had  so  labori- 
ously acquired.  He  put  no  pen  to  paper  and  at  death 
left  not  even  the  slightest  memorandum  throwing  light 
upon  his  operations,  and  it  is  chiefly  through  his  cotem- 
poraries,  who  gathered  somewhat  from  verbal  commu- 
nications, that  we  know  anything  regarding  tliem. 
From  these  we  learn  that  he  formed  an  ideal  standard 
in  his  own  mind  and  then  endeavored,  first  by  a  wide 
selection  and  a  judicious  and  discriminating  coupling, 
to  obtain  the  type  desired,  and  then  by  close  breeding, 
connected  with  rigorous  weeding  out,  to  perpetuate 
and  fix  it. 


INTRODUCTORY.  1 3 


After  him  came  a  host  of  others,  not  all  of  whom 
concealed  their  light  beneath  a  bushel.  By  long  con- 
tinued and  extensive  observation,  resulting  in  the 
collection  of  numerous  facts,  and  by  the  collation  of 
these  facts  of  nature,  by  scientific  research  and  practi- 
cal experiments,  certain  physiological  laws  have  been 
discovered,  and  principles  of  breeding  have  been  de- 
duced and  established.  It  is  true  that  some  of  these 
laws  are  as  yet  hidden  from  us,  and  much  regarding 
them  is  but  imperfectly  understood.  What  we  do  not 
know  is  a  deal  more  than  what  we  do  know,  but  to 
ignore  so  much  as  has  been  discovered,  and  is  well 
established,  and  can  be  learned  by  any  who  care  to  do 
so,  and  to  go  on  regardless  of  it,  would  indicate  a 
degree  of  wisdom  in  the  breeder  on  a  par  with  that  of 
a  builder  who  should  fasten  together  wood  and  iron 
just  as  the  pieces  happened  to  come  to  his  hand,  re- 
gardless of  the  laws  of  architecture,  and  expect  a  con- 
venient house  or  a  fast  sailing  ship  to  be  the  result  of 
his  labors. 

Is  not  the  usual  course  of  procedure  among  many 
farmers  too  nearly  parallel  to  the  case  supposed?  Let 
the  ill-favored,  chance-bred,  mongrel  beasts  in  their 
barn  yards  testify.  The  truth  is,  and  it  is  of  no  use  to 
deny  or  disguise  the  fact,  the  iriiprovement  of  domestic 
animals  is  one  of  the  most  important  and  to  a  large 


14  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING, 


extent,  one  of  the  most  neglected  branches  of  rural 
economy.  The  fault  is  not  that  farmers  do  not  keep 
stock  enough,  much  oftener  they  keep  more  than  they 
can  feed  to  the  most  profitable  point,  and  when  a  short 
crop  of  hay  comes,  there  is  serious  difficulty  in  sup- 
porting them,  or  in  selling  them  at  a  paying  price  ;  but 
the  great  majority  neither  bestow  proper  care  upon  the 
selection  of  animals  for  breeding,  nor  do  they  appre- 
ciate the  dollars  and  cents  difference  between  such  as 
are  profitable  and  such  as  are  profitless.  How  many 
will  hesitate  or  refuse  to  pay  a  dollar  for  the  services  of 
a  good  bull  when  some  sort  of  a  calf  can  be  begotten  for 
a  ''  quarter?''  and  this  too  when  one  by  the  good  male 
would  be  worth  a  dollar  more  for  veal  and  ten  or  twenty 
dollars  more  when  grown  to  a  cow  or  an  ox  ?  How 
few  will  hesitate  or  refuse  to  allow  to  a  butcher  the  cull 
of  his  calves  and  lambs  for  a  few  extra  shillings,  and 
this  when  the  butcher's  -difference  in  shillings  would 
soon,  were  the  best  kej^t  and  the  worst  sold,  grow  into 
as  many  dollars  and  more  ?  How  many  there  are  who 
esteem  size  to  be  of  more  consequence  than  symmetry, 
or  adaptation  to  the  use  for  which  they  are  kept? 
How  many  ever  sit  down  to  calculate  the  difference  in 
money  value  between  an  animal  which  barely  pays  for 
keeping,  or  perhaps  not  that,  and  one  which  pays  a 
profit  ? 


INTRODUCTORY.  15 


Let  us  reckon  a  little.  Suppose  a  man  wishes  to  buy 
a  cow.  Two  are  offered  him,  both  four  years  old,  and 
which  might  probably  be  serviceable  for  ten  years  to 
come.  With  the  same  food  and  attendance  the  first 
will  yield  for  ten  months  in  the  year,  an  average  of 
five  quarts  per  da}^, — and  the  other  for  the  same  term 
will  yield  seven  quarts  and  of  equal  quality.  What 
is  the  comparative  value  of  each  ?  The  difference  in 
yield  is  six  hundred  quarts  per  annum.  For  the  pur- 
pose of  this  calculation  we  will  suppose  it  worth  three 
cents  per  quart — amounting  to  eighteen  dollars.  Is 
not  the  second  cow,  while  she  holds  out  to  give  it,  as 
good  as  the  first,  and  three  hundred  dollars  at  interest 
besides  ?  If  the  first  just  pays  for  her  food  and  attend- 
ance, the  second,  yielding  two-fifths  more,  pays  forty 
per  cent,  profit  annually  ;  and  yet  how  many  farmers 
having  two  such  cows  for  sale  would  make  more  than 
ten,  or  twenty,  or  at  most,  thirty  dollars  difference  in 
the  price  ?  The  profit  from  one  is  eighteen  dollars  a 
year — in  ten  years  one  hundred  and  eighty  dollars, 
besides  the  annual  accumulations  of  interest — the  profit 
of  the  other  is — nothing.  If  the  seller  has  need  to  keep 
one,  would  he  not  be  wiser  to  give  away  the  first,  than 
to  part  with  the  second  for  a  hundred  dollars  ? 

Suppose  again,  that  an  acre  of  grass  or  a  ton  of  hay 
costs  five  dollars,  and  that  for  its  consumption  by  a 


16  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


given  set  of  animals,  the  farmer  gets  a  return  of  five 
dollars  worth  of  labor,  or  meat,  or  wool,  or  milk.  He 
is  selling  his  croj^  at  cost,  and  makes  no  profit.  Sup- 
pose by  employing  other  animals,  better  horses,  better 
cows,  oxen  and  sheep,  he  can  get  ten  dollars  per  ton 
in  returns.  How  much  are  the  latter  worth  more  than 
the  former?  Have  they  not  doubled  the  value  of  the 
crops,  and  increased  the  profit  of  farming  from  nothing 
to  a  hundred  per  cent?  Except  that  the  manure  is 
not  doubled,  and  the  animals  would  some  day  need  to 
be  replaced,  could  he  not  as  well  afford  to  give  the 
price  of  his  farm  for  one  set  as  to  accept  the  other  as  a 
gift? 

Among  many,  who  are  in  fact  ignorant  of  what  goes 
to  constitute  merit  in  a  breeding  animal,  there  is  an 
inclination  to  treat  as  imaginary  and  unreal  the  higher 
values  placed  upon  well-bred  animals  over  those  of 
mixed  origin,  unless  they  are  larger  and  handsomer  in 
proportion  to  the  price  demanded.  The  sums  paid  for 
qualities  which  are  not  at  once  apparent  to  the  eye  are 
stigmatized  a^  fancy  iDrices.  It  is  not  denied  that  fancy 
prices  are  sometimes,  perhaps  often  paid,  for  there  are 
probably  few  who  are  not  willing  occasionally  to  pay 
dearly  for  what  merely  pleases  them,  aside  from  any 
other  merit  commensurate  to  the  price. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  fully  as  true  that  great 


INTRODUCTORY.  17 


intrinsic  value  for  breeding  purposes  may  exist  in  an 
animal  and  yet  make  very  little  show.  Such  an  one 
may  not  even  look  so  well  to  a  casual  observer,  as  a 
grade,  or  cross-bred  animal,  which  although  valuable 
as  an  individual,  is  not,  for  breeding  purposes,  worth  a 
tenth  part  as  much. 

Let  us  suppose  two  farmers  to  need  a  bull ;  they  go 
to  seek  and  two  are  offered,  both  two  years  old,  of 
similar  color,  form  and  general  appearance.  One  is 
offered  for  twenty  dollars — for  the  other  a  hundred  is 
demanded.  Satisfactory  evidence  is  offered  that  the 
latter  is  no  better  than  any  or  all  of  its  ancestors  for 
many  generations  back  on  both  sides,  or  than  its  kin- 
dred— that  it  is  of  a  pure  and  distinct  breed,  that  it 
possesses  certain  well  known  hereditary  qualities,  that 
it  is  suited  for  a  definite  purpose,  it  may  be  a  Short- 
horn, noted  for  large  size  and  early  maturity,  it  may  be 
a  Devon,  of  fine  color  and  symmetry,  active  and  hardy, 
it  may  be  an  Ayrshire,  noted  for  dairy  qualities,  or  of 
some  other  definite  breed,  whose  uses,  excellencies 
and  deficiencies  are  all  well  known. 

The  other  is  of  no  breed  whatever,  perhaps  it  is 
called  a  grade  or  a  cross.  The  man  who  bred  it  had 
rather  confused  ideas,  so  far  as  he  had  any,  about 
breeding,  and  thought  to  combine  all  sorts  of  good 
qualities  in  one  animal,  and  so  he  worked  in  a  little 


18  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


grade  Durham,  or  Hereford  to  get  size,  and  a  little  Ayr- 
shire for  milk,  and  a  little  Devon  for  color,  and  so  on, 
using  perhaps  dams  sired  by  a  bull  in  the  neighborhood 
which  had  also  got  some  '' Whitten'^*  or  ''Peter 
Waldo'^  calves,  (though  none  of  these  showed  it,)  at 
any  rate  he  wanted  some  of  the  ''native''  element  in 
his  stock,  because  it  was  tough,  and  some  folks  thought 
natives  were  the  best  after  all.  Among  its  ancestors 
and  kindred  were  some  good  and  some  not  good,  some 
large  and  some  small,  some  well  favored  and  fat,  some 
ill  favored  and  lean,  some  profitable  and  some  profitless. 
The  animal  now  offered  is  a  great  deal  better  than  the 
average  of  them.  It  looks  for  aught  they  can  see,  about 
as  well  as  the  one  for  which  five  times  his  price  is 
asked.  Perhaps  he  served  forty  cows  last  year  and 
brought  his  owner  as  many  quarters,  while  the  other 
only  served  five  and  brought  an  income  of  but  five  dol- 
lars. The  question  arises,  which  is  the  better  bargain? 
After  pondering  the  matter,  one  buys  the  low-priced 
and  the  other  the  high-priced  one,  both  being  well  sat- 
isfied in  their  own  minds. 

What  did  results  show  ?  The  low-priced  one  served 
that  season  perhaps  a  hundred  cows  ;  more  than  ought 
to  have  done  so,  came  a  second  time  ; — having  been 
overtasked  as  a  yearling,  he  lacked  somewhat  of  vigor. 

*  Local  names  for  lyery^ov  black  fleshed  cattle. 


INTRODUCTORY.  19 


The  calves  came  of  all  sorts,  some  good,  some  poor,  a 
few  like  the  sire,  more  like  the  dams — all  mongrels  and 
showing  mongrel  origin  more  than  he  did.  There 
seemed  in  many  of  them  a  tendency  to  combine  the 
defects  of  the  grades  from  which  he  sprung  rather  than 
their  good  points.  In  some,  the  quietness  of  the  Short- 
horn degenerated  into  stupidity,  and  in  others  the 
activity  of  the  Devon  into  nervous  viciousness.  Take 
them  together  they  perhaps  paid  for  rearing,  or  nearly 
so.  After  using  him  another  year,  he  was  killed,  hav- 
ing been  used  long  enough. 

The  other,  we  will  say,  served  that  same  season  a 
reasonable  number,  perhaps  four  to  six  in  a  week,  or 
one  every  day,  not  more.  Few  came  a  second  time 
and  those  for  no  fault  of  his.  The  calves  bear  a  striking 
resemblance  to  the  sire.  Some  from  the  better  cows 
look  even  better  in  some  points,  than  himself  and  few 
much  worse.  There  is  a  remarkable  uniformity  among 
them  ;  as  they  grow  up  they  thrive  better  than  those 
by  the  low  priced  one.  They  prove  better  adapted  to 
the  use  intended.  On  the  whole  they  are  quite  satis- 
factory and  each  pays  annually  in  its  growth,  labor 
or  milk  a  profit  over  the  cost  of  food  and  attendance  of 
five  or  ten  dollars  or  more.  If  worked  enough  to  fur- 
nish the  exercise  needful  to  insure  vigorous  health,  he 

may  be  as  serviceable  and  as  manageable  at  eight  or 
3 


20  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


ten  years  old,  as  at  two  ;  meantime  he  has  got,  per- 
haps, five  hundred  calves,  which  in  due  time  become 
worth  ten  or  twenty  dollars  each  more  than  those  from 
the  other.  Which  now  seems  the  wiser  purchase  ? 
Was  the  higher  estimate  placed  on  the  well  bred  ani- 
mal based  upon  fancy  or  upon  intrinsic  value  ? 

The  conviction  that  a  better  knowledge  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  breeding  would  render  our  system  of  agricul- 
ture more  profitable,  and  the  hope  of  contributing 
somewhat  to  this  end,  have  induced  the  attempt  to  set 
forth  some  of  the  physiological  principles  involved  in 
the  reproduction  of  domestic  animals,  or  in  other 
words,  the  laws  which  govern  hereditary  transmission. 


LAW  OF  SIMILARITY.  21 


CHAPTER    II. 

The   Law   of   Similarity. 

The  first  and  most  important  of  the  laws  to  be  con- 
sidered in  this  connection  is  that  of  Similarity.  It  is 
by  jvjrtue  of  this  law  that  the  peculiar  characters,  qual- 
ities and  properties  of  the  parents,  whether  external 
or  internal,  good  or  bad,  healthy  or  diseased,  are  trans- 
mitted to  their  offspring.  This  is  one  of  the  plainest 
and  most  certain  of  the  laws  of  nature.  Children 
resemble  their  parents,  and  they  do  so  because  these 
are  hereditary.  The  law  is  constant.  Within  certain 
limits  progeny  always  and  every  where  resemble  their 
parents.  If  this  were  not  so,  there  would  be  no  con- 
stancy of  species,  and  a  horse  might  beget  a  calf  or  a 
sow  have  a  litter  of  puppies,  which  is  never  the  case, — 
for  in  all  time  we  find  repeated  in  the  offspring  the 
structure,  the  instincts  and  all  the  general  character- 
istics of  the  parents,  and  never  those  of  another  species. 
Such  is  the  law  of  nature  and  hence  the  axiom  that 
"like  produces  like. '^  But  while  experience  teaches 
the  constancy  of  hereditary  transmission,  it  teaches 
just  as  plainly  that  the  constancy  is  not  absolute  and 


22  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


perfect,  and  this  introduces  us  to  another  law,  viz  : 
that  of  variation,  which  will  be  considered  by  and  by ; 
our  present  concern  is  to  ascertain  what  we  can  of  the 
law  of  similarity. 

The  lesson  which  this  law  teaches  might  be  stated  in 
live  words,  to  wit :  Breed  only  from  the  best — ^but  the 
teaching  may  be  more  impressive,  and  will  more  likely 
be  heeded,  if  we  understand  the  extent  and  scope  of  the 
law. 

Facts  in  abundance  show  the  hereditary  tendency  of 
physical,  mental  and  moral  qualities  in  men,  and  very 
few  would  hesitate  to  admit  that  the  external  form  and 
general  characteristics  of  parents  descend  to  children 
in  both  the  human  and  brute  races;  but  not  all  are 
aware  that  this  law  reaches  to  such  minute  particulars 
as  facts  show  to  be  the  case. 

We  see  hereditary  transmission  of  a  peculiar  type 
upon  an  extensive  scale,  in  some  of  the  distinct  races, 
js  the  Jews,  and  the  Gypsies,  for  example.  Although 
exposed  for  centuries  to  the  modifying  influences  of 
diverse  climates,  to  association  with  peoples  of  widely 
differing  customs  and  habits,  they  never  merge  their 
peculiarities  in  those  of  any  people  with  whom  they 
dwell,  but  continue  distinct.  They  retain  the  same 
features,  the  same  figures,  the  same  manners,  customs 
and  habits.     The  Jew  in  Poland,  in  Austria,  in  London, 


LAW  OF  SIMILARITY.  23 


or  in  New  York,  is  the  same  ;  and  the  monej^-changers 
of  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem  in  the  time  of  our  Lord 
may  be  seen  to-day  on  change  in  any  of  the  larger 
marts  of  trade.  How  is  this  ?  Just  because  the  Jew 
is  a  ''thorough-bred.'^  There  is  with  him  no  intermar- 
riage with  the  Gentile — no  crossing,  no  mingling  of  his 
organization  with  that  of  another.  When  this  ensues 
"permanence  of  race"  will  cease  and  give  place  to 
variations  of  any  or  of  all  sorts. 

Some  families  are  remarkable  during  long  periods 
for  tall  and  handsome  figures  and  striking  regularity  of 
features,  while  in  others  a  less  perfect  form,  or  some 
peculiar  deformity  reappears  with  equal  constancy.  A 
family  in  Yorkshire  is  known  for  several  generations  to 
have  been  furnished  with  six  fingers  and  toes.  A  family 
possessing  the  same  peculiarity  resides  in  the  valley  of 
the  Kennebec,  and  the  same  has  reappeared  in  one  or 
more  other  families  connected  with  it  by  marriage. 

The  thick  upper  lip  of  the  imperial  house  of  Austria, 
Introduced  by  the  marriage  of  the  Emperor  Maximillian 
with  Mary  of  Burgundy,  has  been  a  marked  feature  in 
that  family  for  hundreds  of  years,  and  is  visible  in  their 
descendants  to  this  day.  Equally  noticeable  is  the 
"Bourbon  nose"  in  the  former  reigning  family  of 
France.  All  the  Barons  de  Yessins  had  a  peculiar 
mark  between  their  shoulders,  and  it  is  said  that  by 


24  PRINCIPLES  OF   BREEDING. 


means  of  it  a  posthumous  son  of  a  late  Baron  de  Yes- 
sins  was  discovered  in  a  London  shoemaker's  appren- 
tice. Haller  cites  the  case  of  a  family  where  an  exter- 
nal tumor  was  transmitted  from  father  to  son  which 
always  swelled  when  the  atmosphere  was  moist. 

A  remarkable  example  of  a  singular  organic  peculiar- 
ity and  of  its  transmission  to  descendants,  is  furnished 
in  the  case  of  the  English  family  of  ''Porcupine  men," 
so  called  from  having  all  the  body  except  the  head  and 
face,  and  the  soles  and  palms,  covered  with  hard  dark- 
colored  excrescences  of  a  horny  nature.  The  first  of 
these  was  Edward  Lambert,  born  in  Suffolk  in  1718, 
and  exhibited  before  the  Royal  Society  when  fourteen 
years  of  age.  The  other  children  of  his  parents  were 
naturally  formed ;  and  Edward,  aside  from  this  peculi- 
arity, was  good  looking  and  enjoyed  good  health.  He 
afterward  had  six  children,  all  of  whom  inherited  the 
same  formation,  as  did  also  several  grand-children. 

Numerous  instances  are  on  record  tending  to  show 
that  even  accidents  do  sometimes,  although  not  usually, 
become  hereditary.  Blumenbach  mentions  the  case  of 
a  man  whose  little  finger  was  crushed  and  twisted  by 
an  accident  to  his  right  hand.  His  sons  inherited 
right  hands  with  the  little  finger  distorted.  A  bitch 
had  her  hinder  parts  paralyzed  for  some  days  by  a  blow. 
Six  of  her  seven  pups  were  deformed,  or  so  weak  in 

Library 


LAW  OF  SDIILARITY.  25 


their  hinder  parts  that  they  were  drowned  as  useless. 
A  pregnant  cat  got  her  tail  injured  ;  in  each  of  her  five 
kittens  the  tail  was  distorted,  and  had  an  enlargement 
or  knob  near  the  end  of  each.  Horses  marked  during 
successive  generations  with  red-hot  irons  in  the  same 
place,  transmit  visible  traces  of  such  marks  to  their 
colts. 

Very  curious  are  the  facts  which  go  to  show  that 
acquired  habits  sometimes  become  hereditary.  Pritch-  X^ 
ard,  in  his  "  Natural  History  of  Man,"  says  that  the 
horses  bred  on  the  table  lands  of  the  Cordilleras  ''  are 
carefully  taught  a  peculiar  pace  which  is  a  sort  of 
running  amble ;''  that  after  a  few  generations  this 
pace  becomes  a  natural  one ;  young  untrained  horses 
adopting  it  without  compulsion.  But  a  still  more 
curious  fact  is,  that  if  these  domesticated  stallions  breed 
with  mares  of  the  wild  herd,  which  abound  in  the  sur- 
rounding plains,  they  "become  the  sires  of  a  race  in 
which  the  ambling  pace  is  natural  and  requires  no 
teaching.'^ 

Mr.  T.  A.  Knight,  in  a  paper  read  before  the  Koyal 
Society,  says,  ''the  hereditary  propensities  of  the  off- 
spring of  Norwegian  ponies,  whether  full  or  half-bred, 
are  very  singular.  Their  ancestors  have  been  in  the 
habit  of  obeying  the  voice  of  their  riders  and  not  the  bri- 
dle ;  and  horse-breakers  complain  that  it  is  impossible 


26  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


to  produce  this  last  habit  in  the  young  colts.  They 
are,  however,  exceedingly  docile  and  obedient  when 
they  understand  the  commands  of  their  masters." 

A  late  writer  in  one  of  the  foreign  journals,  says  that 
he  had  a  ''pup  taken  from  its  mother  at  six  weeks  old, 
who  although  never  taught  to  'beg'  (an  accomplish- 
ment his  mother  had  been  taught)  spontaneously  took 
to  begging  for  every  thing  he  wanted  when  about 
seven  or  eight  months  old ;  he  would  beg  for  food,  beg 
to  be  let  out  of  the  room,  and  one  day  was  found  oppo- 
site a  rabbit  hutch  apparently  begging  the  rabbits  to 
come  and  play.'' 

If  even  in  such  minute  particulars  as  these,  heredi- 
tary transmission  may  be  distinctlj^  seen,  it  becomes  the 
breeder  to  look  closely  to  the  "like"  which  he  wishes 
to  see  reproduced.  Judicious  selection  is  indispensa- 
ble to  success  in  breeding,  and  this  should  have  regard 
to  every  particular — general  appearance,  length  of 
limb,  shape  of  carcass,  development  of  chest ;  if  in  cat- 
tle, the  size,  shape  and  position  of  udder,  thickness  of 
skin,  "touch,"  length  and  texture  of  hair,  docility,  &c., 
&c. ;  if  in  horses,  their  adaptation  to  any  special  excel- 
lence depending  on  form,  or  temperament,  or  nervous 
energy. 

Not  only  should  care  be  taken  to  avoid  structural 
defects,  but  especially  to  secure  freedom  from  hereditary 


LAW  OF  SIMILARITY.  27 


diseases,  as  both  defects  and  diseases  appear  to  be  more 
easily  transmissible  than  desirable  qualities.  There  is 
often  no  obvious  peculiarity  of  structure,  or  appearance, 
indicating  the  possession  of  diseases  or  defects  which 
are  transmissible,  and  so,  special  care  and  continued 
acquaintance  are  necessary  in  order  to  be  assured  of 
their  absence  in  breeding  animals  ;  but  such  a  tendency 
although  invisible  or  inappreciable  to  cursory  observa- 
tion, must  still,  judging  from  its  effects,  have  as  real 
and  certain  an  existence,  as  any  peculiarity  of  form  or 
color. 

Every  one  who  believes  that  a  disease  may  be  hered- 
itary at  all,  must  admit  that  certain  individuals  possess 
certain  tendencies  which  render  them  especially  liable 
to  certain  diseases,  as  consumption  or  scrofula ;  yet  it 
is  not  easy^to  say  precisely  in  what  this  predisposition 
consists.  It  seems  probable,  however,  that  it  may  be 
due  either  to  some  want  of  harmony  between  different 
organs,  some  faulty  formation  or  combination  of  parts, 
or  to  some  peculiar  physical  or  chemical  condition  of 
the  blood  or  tissues  ;  and  that  this  altered  state,  con- 
stituting the  inherent  congenital  tendency  to  the  dis- 
ease, is  duly  transmitted  from  parent  to  offspring  like 
any  other  quality  more  readily  apparent  to  observa- 
tion. 

Hereditary  diseases  exhibit  certain  eminently  charac- 


28  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


teristic  phenomena,  which  a  late  writer*  enumerates  as 
follows  : 

1.  ''They  are  transmitted  by  the  male  as  well  as  by 
the  female  parent,  and  are  doubly  severe  in  the  offspring 
of  parents  both  of  which  are  affected  by  them. 

2.  They  develop  themselves  not  only  in  the  immedi- 
ate progeny  of  one  affected  by  them,  but  also  in  many 
subsequent  generations. 

3.  They  do  not,  however,  always  appear  in  each  gen- 
eration in  the  same  form ;  one  disease  is  sometimes 
substituted  for  another,  analogous  to  it,  and  this  again 
after  some  generations  becomes  changed  into  that  to 
which  the  breed  was  originallj^  liable — as  phthisis  (con- 
sumption) and  dysentery.  Thus,  a  stock  of  cattle  pre- 
viously subject  to  phthisis,  sometimes  become  affected 
for  several  generations  with  dysentery  to  the  exclusion 
of  phthisis,  but  by  and  by,  dysentery  disappears  to  give 
place  to  phthisis. 

4.  Hereditary  diseases  occur  to  a  certain  extent  inde- 
pendently of  external  circumstances ;  appearing  under 
all  sorts  of  management,  and  being  little  affected  by 
changes  of  locality,  separation  from  diseased  stock,  or 
such  causes  as  modify  the  production  of  non-hereditary 
diseases. 

5.  They  are,  however,  most  certainly  and  speedily 
developed  in  circumstances  inimical  to  general  good 
health,  and  often  occur  at  certain,  so  called,  critical 
periods  of  life,  when  unusual  demands  on  the  vital 
powers  take  place. 

■ R 

*  Finlay  Dun,  V.  S.,  in  Journal  of  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society. 


LAW  OF  SIMILARITY.  29 


6.  They  show  a  striking  tendency  to  modify  and 
absorb  into  themselves  all  extraneous  diseases  ;  for 
example,  in  an  animal  of  consumptive  constitution, 
pneumonia  seldom  runs  its  ordinary  course,  and  when 
arrested,  often  passes  into  consumption. 

Y.  Hereditary  diseases  are  less  effectually  treated  by 
ordinary  remedies  than  other  diseases.  Thus,  although 
an  attack  of  phthisis,  rheumatism  or  opthalmia  may  be 
subdued,  and  the  patient  put  out  of  pain  and  danger, 
the  tendency  to  the  disease  will  still  remain  and  be 
greatly  aggravated  by  each  attack. 

In  horses  and  neat  cattle,  hereditary  diseases  do  not 
usually  show  themselves  at  birth,  and  sometimes  the  ten- 
dency remains  latent  for  many  years,  perhaps  through 
one  or  two  generations  and  afterwards  breaks  out  with 
all  its  former  severity.'' 

The  diseases  which  are  found  to  be  hereditary  in 
horses  are  scrofula,  rheumatism,  rickets,  chronic  cough, 
roaring,  ophthalmia  or  inflammation  of  the  eye, — grease 
or  scratches,  bone  spavin,  curb,  &c.  Indeed,  Youatt 
says,  ''there  is  scarcely  a  malady  to  which  the  horse 
is  subject,  that  is  not  hereditary.  Contracted  feet,  curb, 
spavin,  roaring,  thick  wind,  blindness,  notoriously  de- 
scend from  the  sire  or  dam  to  the  foal." 

The  diseases  which  are  found  hereditary  in  neat 
cattle  are  scrofLila,  consumption,  dysentery,  diarrhea, 
rheumatism  and  malignant  tumors.  Neat  cattle  being 
less  exposed  to  the  exciting  causes  of  disease,  and  less 


30  PRINCIPLES  OF   BREEDING. 


liable  to  be  overtasked  or  exposed  to  violent  changes 
of  temperature,  or  otherwise  put  in  jeopardy,  their  dis- 
eases are  not  so  numerous,  and  what  they  have  are  less 
violent  than  in  the  horse,  and  generally  of  a  chronic 
character. 

Scrofula  is  not  uncommon  among  sheep,  and  it  pre- 
sents itself  in  various  forms.  Sometimes  it  is  con- 
nected with  consumption ;  sometimes  it  affects  the 
viscera  of  the  abdomen,  and  particularly  the  mesen- 
teric glands  in  a  manner  similar  to  consumption  in  the 
lungs.  The  scrofulous  taint  has  been  1i:nown  to  be  so 
strong  as  to  affect  the  foetus,  and  lambs  have  occasion- 
ally been  born  with  it,  but  much  oftener  they  show  it 
at  an  early  age,  and  any  affected  in  this  way  are  liable 
to  fall  an  easy  prey  to  any  ordinary  or  prevailing  disease 
which  develops  in  such  with  unusual  severity.  Sheep 
are  also  liable  to  several  diseases  of  the  brain  and  of  the 
respiratory  and  digestive  organs.  Epilepsy,  or  ''fits,'' 
and  rheumatism  sometimes  occur. 

Swine  are  subject  to  nearly  the  same  hereditary  dis- 
eases as  sheep.  Epilepsy  is  more  common  with  them 
than  with  the  latter,  and  they  are  more  liable  to  scrofula 
than  any  other  domestic  animals. 

When  properly  and  carefully  managed,  swine  are  not 
ordinarily  very  liable  to  disease,  but  when,  as  too  often 
kept  in  small,  damp,  filthy  styes,  and  obliged  constantly 


LAW  OF  SIMILARITY.  31 


to  inhale  noxious  effluvia,  and  to  eat  unsuitable  food, 
we  cannot  wonder  either  that  they  become  victims  of 
disease  or  transmit  to  their  progeny  a  weak  and  sickly 
organization.  Swine  are  not  naturally  the  dirty  beasts 
which  many  suppose.  "Wallowing  in  the  mire,''  so 
proverbial  of  them,  is  rather  from  a  wish  for  protection 
from  insects  and  for  coolness,  than  from  any  inherent 
love  of  filth,  and  if  well  cared  for  they  will  be  compara- 
tively cleanly. 

The  practice  of  close  breeding,  which  is  probably 
carried  to  greater  extent  with  swine  than  with  any 
other  domestic  animal,  undoubtedly^ontributes  to  their 
Hability  to  heredit_ary  diseases,  and  when  those  possess- 
ing any  such  diseases  are  coupled,  the  ruin  of  the  stock 
is  easily  and  quickly  effected,  for  as  already  stated, 
they  are  propagated  by  either  parent,  and  always  most 
certainly  and  in  most  aggravated  form,  when  occurring 
in  both. 

With  regard  to  hereditary  diseases,  it  is  eminently 
true  that  "an  ounce  of  prevention  is  worth  a  pound  of 
cure.''  As  a  general  and  almost  invariable  rule,  ani- 
mals possessing  either  defects  or  a  tendency  to  disease 
should  not  be  employed  for  breeding.  If,  however,  for 
special  reasons  it  seems  desirable  to  breed  from  one 
which  has  some  slight  defect  of  symmetry,  or  a  faint 
tendency  to  disease,  although  for  the  latter  it  is  doubtful 


32  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


if  the  possession  of  any  good  qualities  can  fully  com- 
pensate, it  should  be  mated  with  one  which  excels  in 
every  respect  in  which  the  other  is  deficient,  and  on  no 
account  with  one  which  is  near  of  kin  to  it. 

Notwithstanding'  the  imjiortance  due  to  the  subject 
of  hereditary  diseases,  it  is  also  true  that  few  diseases 
invariably  owe  their  development  to  hereditary  causes. 
Even  such  as  are  usually  hereditary  are  sometimes  pro- 
duced accidentally,  (as  of  course  there  must  be  a  begin- 
ning to  everything,)  and  in  such  case,  they  may,  or  may 
not  be,  transmitted  to  their  progeny.  As  before  shown, 
it  is  certain  that  they  sometimes  are,  which  is  sufiScient 
reason  to  avoid  such  for  breeding  purposes.  It  is  also 
well  known  that,  in  the  horse,  for  instance,  certain  forms 
of  limbs  predispose  to  certain  diseases,  as  bone  spavin 
is  most  commonly  seen  where  there  is  a  disproportion 
in  the  size  of  the  limb  above  and  below  the  hock,  and 
others  might  be  named  of  similar  character  ;  in  all  such 
cases  the  disease  may  be  caused  by  an  agency  which 
would  be  wholly  inadequate  in  one  of  more  perfect  form, 
but  once  existing,  it  is  liable  to  be  reproduced  in  the 
offspring — all  tending  to  show  the  great  importance  of 
giving  due  heed  in  selecting  breeding  animals  to  all  qual- 
ities, both  external  and  internal,  so  long  as  "like  pro- 
duces like.'' 


LAW  OF  VARIATION.  33 


CHAPTER    III. 

The    Law    of    Yariatiox. 

We  come  now  to  consider  another  law,  by  which 
that  of  similarity  is  greatly  modified,  to  wit,  the  law  of 
variation  or  divergence.  All  organic  beings,  whether 
plants  or  animals,  possess  a  certain  flexibility  or  pliancy 
of  organization,  rendering  them  capable  of  change  to  a 
greater  or  less  extent.  When  in  a  state  of  nature  vari- 
ations are  comparatively  slow  and  infrequent,  but  when 
in  a  state  of  domestication  they  occur  much  oftener  and 
to  a  much  greater  extent.  The  greater  variability  in 
the  latter  case  is  doubtless  owing,  in  some  measure,  to 
our  domestic  productions  being  reared  under  conditions 
of  life  not  so  uniform,  and  different  from,  those  to  which 
the  parent  species  was  exposed  in  a  state  of  nature. 

Flexibility  of  organization  in  connexion  with  climate, 
is  seen  in  a  remarkable  degree  in  Indian  corn.  The 
small  Canada  variety,  growing  only  three  feet  high  and 
ripening  in  seventy  to  ninety  days  when  carried  south- 
ward, gradually  enlarges  in  the  whole  plant  until  it 
may  be  grown  twelve  feet  high  and  upwards,  and  re- 
quires one  hundred  and  fifty  days  to  ripen  its  seed.     A 


34  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


southern  variety  brought  northward,  gradually  dwindles 
in  size  and  rijDens  earlier  until  it  reaches  a  type  special- 
ly fitted  to  its  latitude. 

Variation,  although  the  same  in  kind,  is  greater  in 
degree,  among  domesticated  plants  than  among  ani- 
mals. From  the  single  wild  variety  of  the  potato  as 
first  discovered  and  taken  to  Europe,  have  sprung 
innumerable  sorts.  Kemp,  in  his  work  on  Agricultural 
Physiology,  tells  us,  that  on  the  maratime  cliffs  of 
England,  there  exists  a  little  plant  with  a  fusiform  root, 
smooth  glaucous  leaves,  flowers  similar  to  wild  mus- 
tard and  of  a  saline  taste.  It  is  called  by  botanists, 
Brassica  oleracea.  By  cultivation  there  have  been 
obtained  from  this  insignificant  and  apparently  useless 
plant — 

1st,  all  borecoles  or  kails,  12  varieties  or  more. 

2d,  all  cabbages  having  heart. 

3d,  the  various  kinds  of  Savoy  cabbages. 

4th,  Brussels  sprouts. 

5th,  all  the  broccolis  and  cauliflowers  which  do  not 
heart. 

6th,  the  rape  plant. 

Yth,  the  ruta  baga  or  Swedish  turnip. 

8th,  3^ellow  and  white  turnips. 

9th,  hybrid  turnips. 

10th,  kohl  rabbi. 


LAW  OF  VARIATION.  35 


Similar  examples  are  numerous  among  our  common 
useful  plants,  and  among  flowers  the  dahlia  and  ver- 
bena furnish  an  illustration  of  countless  varieties, 
embracing  numberless  hues  and  combinations  of  color, 
from  purest  white  through  nearly  all  the  tints  of  the 
rainbow  to  almost  black,  of  divers  bights  too,  and 
habits  of  growth,  springing  up  under  the  hand  of  culti- 
vation in  a  few  years  from  plants  which  at  first  yielded 
only  a  comparatively  unattractive  and  self-colored 
flower.  In  brief,  it  may  be  said,  that  nearly  or  quite 
all  the  choicest  productions  both  of  our  kitchen  and 
flower  gardens  are  due  to  variations  induced  by  cul- 
tivation in  a  course  of  years  from  plants  which  in  their 
natural  condition  would  scarcely  attract  a  passing 
glance. 

We  cannot  say  what  might  have  been  the  original 
type  of  many  of  our  domestic  animals,  for  the  inquiry 
would  carry  us  beyond  any  record  of  history  or  tra- 
dition regarding  it,  but  few  doubt  that  all  our  varieties 
of  the  horse,  the  ox,  the  sheep  and  the  dog,  sprang 
each  originally  from  a  single  type,  and  that  the  count- 
less variations  are  due  to  causes  connected  with  their 
domestication.  Of  those  reclaimed  within  the  period 
of  memory  may  be  named  the  turkey.  This  was  un- 
known to  the  inhabitants  of  the  old  continent  until 
discovered  here  in  a  wild  state.     Since  then,  having 


36  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


been  domesticated  and  widely  disseminated,  it  now 
oifers  varieties  of  wide  departure  from  the  original 
type,  and  which  have  been  nurtured  into  self-sustain- 
ing breeds,  distinguished  from  each  other  by  the  pos- 
session of  peculiar  characteristics. 

Among  what  are  usually  reckoned  the  more  active 
causes  of  variation  may  be  named  climate,  food  and 
habit. 

Animals  in  cold  climates  are  provided  with  a  thicker 
covering  of  hair  than  in  warmer  ones.  Indeed,  it  is 
said  that  in  some  of  the  tropical  provinces  of  South 
America,  there  are  cattle  which  have  an  extremely 
rare  and  fine  fur  in  place  of  the  ordinary  pile  of  hair. 
Various  other  instances  could  be  cited,  if  necessary, 
going  to  show  that  a  beneficent  Creator  has  implanted 
in  many  animals,  to  a  certain  extent,  a  power  of  accom- 
modation to  the  circumstances  and  conditions  amid 
which  they  are  reared. 

The  supply  of  food,  whether  abundant  or  scanty,  is 
one  of  the  most  active  cases  of  variation  known  to  be 
within  the  control  of  man.  For  illustration  of  its 
effect,  let  us  suppose  two  pairs  of  twin  calves,  as  nearly 
alike  as  possible,  and  let  a  male  and  a  female  from 
each  pair  be  suckled  by  their  mothers  until  they  wean 
themselves,  and  be  fed  always  after  with  plentj^  of  the 
most  nourishing  food ;   and  the  others  to  be  fed  with 


LAW  OF  VARIATION.  37 


skimmed  milk,  hay  tea  and  gruel  at  first,  to  be  put  to 
grass  at  two  months  old,  and  subsequently  fed  on 
coarse  and  innutritious  fodder.  Let  these  be  bred  from 
separatel^^,  and  the  same  style  of  treatment  kept  up, 
and  not  many  generations  would  elapse  before  we  had 
distinct  varieties,  or  breeds,  differing  materially  in  size, 
temperament  and  time  of  coming  to  maturity. 

Suppose  other  similar  pairs,  and  one  from  each  to  be 
placed  in  the  richest  blue-grass  pastures  of  Kentucky, 
or  in  the  fertile  valley  of  the  Tees ;  always  supplied 
with  abundance  of  rich  food,  these  live  luxuriously, 
grow  rapidly,  increase  in  hight,  bulk,  thickness,  every 
way,  they  early  reach  the  full  size  which  they  are  capa- 
ble of  attaining ;  having  nothing  to  induce  exertion, 
they  become  inactive,  lazy,  lethargic  and  fat.  Being 
bred  from,  the  progeny  resemble  the  parents,  ''only 
more  so.'^  Each  generation  acquiring  more  firmly  and 
fixedly  the  characteristics  induced  by  their  situation, 
these  become  hereditary,  and  we  by  and  by  have  a  breed 
exhibiting  somewhat  of  the  traits  of  the  Teeswater  or 
Durhams  from  which  the  improved  Short-horns  of  the 
present  day  have  been  reared. 

The  others  we  will  suppose  to  have  been  placed  on 
the  hill-sides  of  New  England,  or  on  the  barren  Isle  of 
Jersey,  or  on  the  highlands  of  Scotland,  or  in  the  pas- 
tures  of  Devonshire.     These  being   obliged   to   roam 


38  PRIXCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


longer  for  a  scantier  repast  grow  more  slowly,  develop 
their  capabilities  in  regard  to  size  not  only  more  slowly, 
but,  perhaps,  not  fully  at  all — they  become  more  active 
in  temperament  and  habit,  thinner  and  flatter  in  mus- 
cle. Their  young  cannot  so  soon  shift  for  themselves 
and  require  more  milk,  and  the  dams  yield  it.  Each 
generation  in  its  turn  becomes  more  completely  and 
fully  ada23ted  to  the  circumstances  amid  which  they 
are  reared,  and  if  bred  indiscriminately  with  any  thing 
and  every  thing  else,  we  by  and  by  have  the  common 
mixed  cattle  of  New  England,  miscalled  natives  ;  or 
if  kept  more  distinct,  we  have  something  approaching 
the  Devon,  the  Ayrshire,  or  the  Jersey  breeds. 

A  due  consideration  of  the  natural  effect  of  climate 
and  food  is  a  point  worthy  the  special  attention  of  the 
stock-husbandman.  If  the  breeds  employed  be  well 
adapted  to  the  situation,  and  the  capacity  of  the  soil 
is  such  as  to  feed  them  fully,  profit  may  be  safely 
calculated  upon.  Animals  are  to  be  looked  upon  as 
machines  for  converting  herbage  into  money.  Now  it 
costs  a  certain  amount  to  keep  up  the  motive  power  of 
any  machine,  and  also  to  make  good  the  wear  and  tear 
incident  to  its  working  ;  and  in  the  case  of  animals  it  is 
only  so  much  as  is  digested  and  assimilated,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  amount  thus  required,  which  is  converted  into 
meat,  milk  or  wool ;  so  that  the  greater  the  proportion 


LAW  OF  VARIATION.  39 


which  the  hitter  bears  to  the  former,  the  greater  will 
be  the  prq/i^  to  be  realized  from  keeping  them. 

There  has  been  in  Xew  England  generally  a  tendency 
to  choose  animals  of  large  size,  as  large  as  can  be  had 
from  any  where,  and  if  they  possess  symmetry  and  all 
other  good  qualities  commensurate  with  the  size,  and 
if  plenty  of  nutritious  food  can  be  supplied,  there  is  an 
advantage  gained  by  keeping  such,  for  it  costs  less, 
other  things  being  equal,  to  shelter  and  care  for  one 
animal  than  for  two.  But  our  pastures  and  meadows 
are  not  the  richest  to  be  found  any  where,  and  if  we 
select  such  as  require,  in  order  to  give  the  profit  wdiich 
they  are  capable  of  yielding,  more  or  richer  food  than 
our  farms  can  supply,  or  than  we  have  the  means  to 
purchase,  we  must  necessarily  fail  to  reap  as  much 
profit  as  we  might  by  the  selection  of  such  as  could  be 
easily  fed  upon  home  resources  to  the  point  of  highest 
profit. 

Whether  the  selection  be  of  such  as  are  either  larger 
or  smaller  than  suit  our  situation,  they  will,  and  equally 
in  both  cases,  vary  by  degrees  towards  the  fitting  size 
or  type  for  the  locality  in  which  they  are  kept,  but  there 
is  this  noteworthy  difference,  that  if  larger  ones  be 
brought  in,  they  will  not  only  diminish,  but  deteriorate, 
while  if  smaller  be  brought  in,  they  will  enlarge  and 
improve. 


40  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


The  bestowal  of  food  suflScient  both  in  amount  and 
quality  to  enable  animals  to  develop  all  the  excellencies 
inherent  in  them,  and  to  obtain  all  the  profit  to  be 
derived  from  them,  is  something  very  distinct  from 
undue  forcing  or  pampering.  This  process  may  pro- 
duce wonderful  animals  to  look  at,  but  neither  useful 
nor  profitable  ones,  and  there  is  danger  of  thus  pro- 
ducing a  most  undesirable  variation,  for,  as  in  plants, 
we  find  that  forcing,  pampering,  high  culture  or  what- 
ever else  it  may  be  called,  may  be  carried  so  far  as  to 
result  in  the  production  of  double  flowers,  (an  unnat- 
ural development,)  and  these  accompanied  with  greater 
or  less  inability  to  perfect  seed,  so  in  animals,  the  same 
process  may  be  carried  far  enough  to  produce  sterility. 
Instances  are  not  wanting,  and  particularly  among  the 
more  recent  improved  Short-horns,  of  impotency  among 
the  males  and  of  barrenness  in  the  females,  and  in  some 
cases  where  they  have  borne  calves  they  have  failed  to 
secrete  milk  for  their  nourishment.*  Impotency  in 
bulls  of  various  breeds  has  not  unfrequently  occurred 
from  too  high  feeding,  and  especially  if  connected  ivith 
lack  of  sufficient  exercise. '\ 

*  See  Rowley's  Prize  Report  on  Farming  in  Derbyshire,  in  Journal 
of  Royal  Agricultural  Society,  Vol.  14. 

t  A  u'orking  bull,  though  perhaps  not  so  pleasing  to  the  eye  as  a 
fat  one,  (for  fat  sometimes  covers  a  multitude  of  defects,)  is  a  surer 


LAW  OF  VARIATION.  41 


Habit  has  a  decided  influence  towards  inducing  vari- 
ation. As  the  blacksmith's  right  arm  becomes  more 
muscular  from  the  habit  of  exercise  induced  by  his 
vocation,  so  we  find  in  domestic  animals  that  use,  or 
the  demand  created  by  habit,  is  met  by  a  development 
or  change  in  the  organization  adapted  to  the  require- 
ment. For  instance,  with  cows  in  a  state  of  nature  or 
where  required  only  to  suckle  their  young,  the  supply 
of  milk  is  barely  fitted  to  the  requirement.  If  more  is 
desired,  and  if  the  milk  be  drawn  completely  and  regu- 
larly, the  yield  is  increased  and  continued  longer.  By 
keeping  up  the  demand  there  is  induced  in  the  next 
generation  a  greater  development  of  the  secreting 
organs,  and  more  milk  is  given.  By  continuing  the 
practice,  by  furnishing  the  needful  conditions  of  suita- 
ble food,  &c.,  and  by  selecting  in  each  generation 
those  animals  showing  the  greatest  tendency  towards 
milk,  a  breed  specially  adapted  for  the  dairy  may  be 
established.  It  is  just  by  this  mode  that  the  Ayrshires 
have,  in  the  past  eighty  or  a  hundred  years,  been 
brought  to  be  what  they  are,  a  breed  giving  more  good 
milk  upon  a  given  quantity  of  food  than  any  other. 

It  is  because  the  English  breeders  of  modern  Short- 
horns altogether  prefer  beef-making  to  milk-giving  prop- 
stock-getter  ;  and  his  progeny  is  more  likely  to  inherit  full  health  and 
vigor. 


42  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


erties  that  they  have  constantly  fostered  variation  in 
favor  of  the  one  at  the  expense  of  the  other  until  the 
milking  quality  in  many  families  is  nearly  bred  out. 
It  was  not  so  formerly — thirty  years  ago  the  Short- 
horns (or  as  they  were  then  usually  called,  the  Dur- 
hams)  were  not  deficient  in  dairy  qualities,  and  some 
families  were  famous  for  large  yield.  By  properly 
directed  efibrts  they  might,  doubtless,  be  bred  back  to 
milk,  but  of  this  there  is  no  probability,  at  least  in  Eng- 
land, for  the  tendency  of  modern  practice  is  very  strong 
toward  having  each  breed  specially  fitted  to  its  use — 
the  dairy  breeds  for  milk  and  the  beef  breeds  for  meat 
only.  The  requirements  of  the  English  breeder  are  in 
some  respects  quite  unlike  those  of  New  England  farm- 
ers— for  instance,  as  they  employ  no  oxen  for  labor 
there  is  no  inducement  to  cultivate  working  qualities 
even,  in  connection  with  beef. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  effect  of  habit,  Darwin*  cites 
the  domestic  duck,  of  which  he  saj-s,  "  I  find  that  the 
bones  of  the  wing  weigh  less,  and  the  bones  of  the  leg 
more,  in  proportion  to  the  whole  skeleton,  than  do  the 
same  bones  in  the  wild  duck  ;  and  I  presume  that  this 
change  may  be  safely  attributed  to  the  domestic  duck 
flying  much  less  and  Walking  more  than  its  wild  parent. '^ 
And  again,  "  not  a  single  domestic  animal  can  be  named 

*  In  his  Origin  of  Species. 


LAW  OF  VARIATION.  43 


which  has  not  in  some  country  drooping  ears,  and  the 
view  suggested  by  some  authors,  that  the  drooping  is 
due  to  the  disuse  of  the  muscles  of  the  ear,  from  the 
animals  not  being  much  alarmed  by  danger,  seems 
probable/^ 

Climate,  food  and  habit  are  the  principal  causes  of 
variation  which  are  known  to  be  in  any  marked  degree 
under  the  control  of  man ;  and  the  effect  of  these  is, 
doubtless,  in  some  measure  indirect  and  subservient  to 
other  laws,  of  reproduction,  growth  and  inheritance,  of 
which  we  have  at  present  very  imperfect  knowledge. 
This  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  young  of  the  same 
litter  sometimes  differ  considerably  from  each  other, 
though  both  the  young  and  their  parents  have  appa- 
rently been  exposed  to  exactly  the  same  conditions  of 
life ;  for  had  the  action  of  these  conditions  been  spe- 
cific or  direct  and  independent  of  other  laws,  if  any  of 
the  young  had  varied,  the  whole  would  probably  have 
varied  in  the  same  manner. 

Numberless  hypotheses  have  been  started  to  account 
for  variation.  Some  hold  that  it  is  as  much  the  func- 
tion of  the  reproductive  system  to  produce  individual 
differences  as  it  is  to  make  the  child  like  the  parents. 
Darwin  says  ''the  reproductive  System  is  eminently 
susceptible  to  changes  in  the  conditions  of  life  ;  and  to 
this  system  being  functionally  disturbed  in  the  parents 


44  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


0 


I  chiefly  attribute  the  varying  or  plastic  condition  of 
the  oifsi^ring.  The  male  and  female  sexual  elements 
seem  to  be  affected  before  that  union  takes  place  which 
is  to  form  a  new  being.  But  why,  because  the  re-pro- 
ductive system  is  disturbed  this  or  that  part  should 
vary  more  or  less,  we  are  profoundly  ignorant.  Nev- 
ertheless we  can  here  and  there  dimly  catch  a  faint  ray 
of  light,  and  we  may  feel  sure  that  there  must  be  some 
cause  for  each  deviation  of  structure  however  slight." 

It  may  be  useless  for  us  to  speculate  here  upon  the 
laws  which  govern  variations.  The  fact  that  these 
exist  is  what  the  breeder  has  to  deal  with,  and  a  most 
important  one  it  is,  for  it  is  this  chiefly,  which  makes 
hereditary  transmission  the  problem  which  it  is.  .  His 
aim  should  ever  be  to  grasp  and  render  permanent  and 
increase  so  far  as  practicable,  every  variation  for  the  bet- 
ter, and  to  reject  for  breeding  purposes  such  as  show  a 
downward  tendency. 

That  this  may  be  done,  there  is  abundant  proof  in 
the  success  which  has  in  many  instances  attended  the 
well  directed  efibrts  of  intelligent  breeders.  A  remark- 
able instance  is  furnished  in  the  new  Mauchamp-Merino 
sheep  of  Mons.  Graux,  which  originated  in  a  single 
animal,  a  product  of  the  law  of  variation,  and  which  by 
skillful  breeding  and  selection  has  become  an  estab- 
lished breed  of  a  peculiar  type  and  possessing  valuable 


LAW  OF  VARIATION.  45 


IDroperties.  Samples  of  the  wool  of  these  sheep  were 
shown  at  the  great  exhibition  in  London,  in  1851,  and 
attracted  much  attention.  It  was  also  shown  at  the 
great  recent  Agricultural  Exhibition  at  Paris.  A  cor- 
respondent of  the  Mark  Lane  Express,  says  : 

"  One  of  the  most  interesting  portions  of  the  sheep- 
show  is  that  of  the  Mauchamp  variety  of  Merinos,  hav- 
ing a  new  kind  of  wool,  glossy  and  silky,  similar  to 
mohair.  This  is  an  instance  of  an  entirely  new  breed 
being  as  it  were  created  from  a  mere  sport  of  nature. 
It  was  originated  by  Mons.  J.  L.  Graux.  In  the  year 
1828,  a  Merino  ewe  produced  a  peculiar  ram  lamb,  hav- 
ing a  different  shape  from  the  usual  Merino,  and  pos- 
sessing a  long,  straight,  and  silky  character  of  wool. 
In  1830,  M.  Graux  obtained  by  this  ram  one  ram  and 
one  ewe,  having  the  silky  character  of  wool.  In  1831, 
among  the  produce  were  four  rams  and  one  ewe  with 
similar  fleeces  ;  and  in  1833  there  were  rams  enough  of 
the  new  sort  to  serve  the  whole  flock  of  ewes.  In  each 
subsequent  year  the  lambs  were  of  two  kinds  ;  one  pos- 
sessing the  curled  elastic  wool  of  the  old  Merinos,  only 
a  little  longer  and  finer  ;  the  other  like  the  new  breed. 
At  last,  the  skillful  breeder  obtained  a  flock  combining 
the  fine  silky  fleece  with  a  smaller  head,  broader  flanks, 
and  more  capacious  chest ;  and  several  flocks  being 
crossed  with  the  Mauchamp  variety,  have  produced 
also  the  Mauchamp-Merino  breed.  -  The  pure  Mauchamp 
wool  is  remarkable  for  its  qualities  as  a  combing-wool, 
owing  to  the  strength,  as  well  as  the  length  and  fine- 
ness of  the  fibre.     It  is  found  of  great  value  by  the 


46  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


manufacturers  of  Cashmere  shawls  and  similar  goods, 
being  second  only  to  the  true  Cashmere  fleece,  in  the 
fine  flexible  delicacy  of  the  fibre  ;  and  when  in  combina- 
tion with  Cashmere  wool,  imparting  strength  and  con- 
sistency. The  quantity  of  the  wool  has  now  become 
as  great  or  greater  than  from  ordinary  Merinos,  while 
the  quality  commands  for  it  twenty-five  per  cent,  higher 
price  in  the  French  market.  Surely  breeders  cannot 
watch  too  closely  any  accidental  peculiarity  of  conform- 
ation or  characteristic  in  their  flocks  or  herds. '^ 

Mons.  Yilmorin,  the  eminent  horticulturist  of  Paris, 
has  likened  the  law  of  similarity  to  the  centripetal  force, 
and  the  law  of  variation  to  the  centrifugal  force  ;  and 
in  truth  their  operations  seem  analogous,  and  possibly 
they  may  be  the  same  in  kind,  though  certainly  unlike 
in  this,  that  they  are  not  reducible  to  arithmetical  calcu- 
lation and  cannot  be  subjected  to  definite  measurement. 
His  thought  is  at  least  a  highly  suggestive  one  and 
may  be  pursued  with  profit. 

Among  the  ''faint  rays"  alluded  to  by  Mr.  Darwin 
as  throwing  light  upon  the  changes  dependent  on  the 
laws  of  reproduction,  there  is  one,  perhaps  the  brightest 
yet  seen,  which  deserves  our  notice.  It  is  the  apparent 
influence  of  the  male  first  having  fruitful  intercourse 
with  a  female  upon  her  subsequent  offspring  by  other 
males.  Attention  was  first  directed  to  this  by  the  fol- 
lowing circumstance,  related  by  Sir  Everard  Home  :  A 
young  chestnut  mare,  seven-eighths  Arabian,  belonging 


LAW  OF  VARIATION.  47 


to  the  Earl  of  Morton,  was  covered  in  1815  by  a  Qiiagga, 
which  is  a  species  of  wild  ass  from  Africa,  and  marked 
somewhat  in  the  style  of  a  Zebra.  The  mare  was  cov- 
ered but  once  by  the  Quagga,  and  after  a  pregnancy 
of  eleven  months  and  four  days  gave  birth  to  a  hybrid, 
which  had,  as  was  expected,  distinct  marks  of  the 
Quagga,  in  the  shape  of  its  head,  black  bars  on  the 
legs  and  shoulders,  &c.  In  181*7,  1818  and  1821,  the 
same  mare  was  covered  by  a  very  fine  black  Arabian 
horse,  and  produced  successively  three  foals,  and  al- 
though she  had  not  seen  the  Quagga  since  1816,  they 
all  bore  his  curious  and  unequivocal  markings. 

Since  the  occurrence  of  this  case  numerous  others 
of  a  similar  character  have  been  observed,  a  few  of 
which  may  be  mentioned.  Mr.  McGillivray  says,  that 
in  several  foals  in  the  royal  stud  at  Hampton  Court, 
got  by  the  horse  "Actaeon,'^  there  were  unmistakable 
marks  of  the  horse  "  Colonel.'^  The  dams  of  these  foals 
were  bred  from  by  Colonel  the  previous  year. 

A  colt,  the  property  of  the  Earl  of  Suffield,  got  by 
"Laurel,'^  so  resembled  another  horse,  "Camel,"  that 
it  was  whispered  and  even  asserted  at  Newmarket  that 
he  must  have  been  got  by  '' Camel. '^  It  was  ascer- 
tained, however,  that  the  mother  of  the  colt  bore  a  foal 
the  previous  year  by  ''  Camel." 

Alex.  Morrison,  Esq.,  of  Bognie,  had  a  fine  Clydesdale 
5* 


48  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


mare  which  in  1843  was  served  by  a  Spanish  ass  and 
produced  a  mule.  She  afterwards  had  a  colt  by  a  horse, 
which  bore  a  very  marked  likeness  to  a  mule — seen  at 
a  distance,  every  one  sets  it  down  at  once  as  a  mule. 
The  ears  are  nine  and  one-half  inches  long, — the  girth 
not  quite  six  feet,  stands  above  sixteen  hands  high. 
The  hoofs  are  so  long  and  narrow  that  there  is  a  diffi- 
culty in  shoeing  them,  and  the  tail  is  thin  and  scanty. 
He  is  a  beast  of  indomitable  energy  and  durability,  and 
highly  prized  by  his  owner. 

Numerous  similar  cases  are  on  record,*  and  it  ap- 
pears to  have  been  known  among  the  Arabs  for  centu- 
ries, that  a  mare  which  has  first  borne  a  mule,  is  ever 
after  unfit  to  breed  pure  horses  ;')'  and  the  fact  seems 
now  to  be  perfectly  well  understood  in  all  the  mule- 
breeding  States  of  the  Union. 

A  pure  Aberdeenshire  heifer,  the  property  of  a  farmer 
in  Forgue,  was  served  with  a  pure  Teeswater  bull  to 
which  she  had  a  first  cross  calf.  The  following  season 
the  same  cow  was  served  with  a  pure  Aberdeenshire 
bull,  the  produce  was  in  appearance  a  cross-bred  calf, 
which  at  two  years  old  had  long  horns  ;  the  parents 
were  both  hornless. 

*  It  was  long  ago  stated  by  Haller,  that  when  a  mare  had  a  foal  by 
an  ass  and  afterwards  another  by  a  horse,  the  second  offspring  be- 
gotten by  the  horse  nevertheless  approached  in  character  to  a  mule. 

t  See  Abd  el  Kader's  letter. 


LAW  OF  VARIATION.  49 


A  small  flock  of  ewes,  belonging  to  Dr.  W.  Wells  in 
the  island  of  Grenada,  were  served  by  a  ram  procured 
for  the  purpose  ; — the  ewes  were  all  white  and  woolly  ; 
the  ram  was  quite  different, — of  a  chocolate  color,  and 
hairy  like  a  goat.  The  progeny  were  of  course  crosses 
but  bore  a  strong  resemblance  to  the  male  parent.  The 
next  season.  Dr.  Wells  obtained  a  ram  of  precisely  the 
same  breed  as  the  ewes,  but  the  progeny  showed  dis- 
tinct marks  of  resemblance  to  the  former  ram,  in  color 
and  covering.  The  same  thing  occurred  on  neighbor- 
ing estates  under  like  circumstances. 

Six  very  superior  pure-bred  black-faced  horned  ewes, 
belonging  to  Mr.  H.  Shaw  of  Leochel-Cushnie,  were 
served  by  a  Leicester  ram,  (white-faced  and  hornless.) 
The  lambs  were  crosses.  The  next  year  they  were 
served  by  a  ram  of  exactly  the  same  breed  as  the  ewes 
themselves.  To  Mr.  Shaw's  astonishment  the  lambs 
were  without  an  exception  hornless  and  brownish  in 
the  face,  instead  of  being  black  and  horned.  The  third 
year  (1846)  they  were  again  served  by  a  superior  ram 
of  their  own  breed,  and  again  the  lambs  were  mongrels, 
but  showed  less  of  the  Leicester  characteristics  than 
before.  Mr.  Shaw  at  last  parted  from  these  fine  ewes 
without  obtaining  a  single  pure-bred  lamb.* 

*  Journal  of  Medical  Science,  1850. 


50  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


''It  has  been  noticed  that  a  well  bred  bitch,  if  she 
have  been  impregnated  by  a  mongrel  dog,  will  not 
although  lined  subsequently  by  a  pure  dog,  bear  thor- 
ough-bred puppies  in  the  next  two  or  three  litters."* 

The  like  occurrence  has  been  noticed  in  respect  of 
the  sow.  "  A  sow  of  the  black  and  white  breed  became 
pregnant  by  a  boar  of  the  wild  breed  of  a  deep  chestnut 
color.  The  pigs  produced  were  duly  mixed,  the  color 
of  the  boar  being  in  some  very  predominant.  The  sow 
being  afterwards  put  to  a  boar  of  the  same  breed  as 
herself,  some  of  the  produce  were  still  stained  or  marked 
with  the  chestnut  color  which  prevailed  in  the  first  lit- 
ter and  the  same  occurred  after  a  third  impregnation, 
the  boar  being  then  of  the  same  kind  as  herself.  What 
adds  to  the  force  of  this  case  is  that  in  the  course  of 
many  years'  observation  the  breed  in  question  was 
never  known  to  produce  progeny  having  the  slightest 
tinge  of  chestnut  color. f 

The  above  are  a  few  of  the  many  instances  on  record 
tending  to  show  the  influence  of  a  first  impregnation 
upon  subsequent  progeny  by  other  males.  Not  a  few 
might  also  be  given  showing  that  the  same  rule  holds 
in  the  human  species,  of  which  a  single  one  will  suffice 
here: — ''A  young  woman  residing  in  Edinburgh,  and 

*  Kirke's  Physiology. 

t  Philosophical  Transactions  for  1821. 


.LAW  OF  VARIATION.  51 


born  of  white  parents,  but  whose  mother  previous  to 
her  marriage  bore  a  mulatto  child  by  a  negro  *man 
servant,  exhibits  distinct  traces  of  the  negro.  Dr.  Simp- 
son, whose  patient  at  "one  time,  the  young  woman  was, 
recollects  being  struck  with  the  resemblance,  and  no- 
ticed particularly  that  the  hair  had  the  qualities  char- 
acteristic of  the  negro." 

Dr.  Carpenter,  in  the  last  edition  of  his  work  on  phys- 
iology, says  it  is  by  no  means  an  infrequent  occurrence 
for  a  widow  who  has  married  again  to  bear  children 
resembling  her  first  husband. 

Various  explanations  have  been  offered  to  account 
for  the  facts  observed,  among  which  the  theory  of  Mr. 
McGillivray,  V.  S.,  which  is  endorsed  by  Dr.  Harvey, 
and  considered  (as  we  shall  presently  see)  as  very 
probable  at  least  by  Dr.  Carpenter,  seems  the  most 
satisfactory.     Dr.  Harvey  says  : 

"  Instances  are  sufficiently  common  among  the  lower 
animals  where  the  offspring  exhibit  more  or  less  dis- 
tinctly over  and  beyond  the  characters  of  the  male  by 
which  they  were  begotten,  the  peculiarities  also  of  a 
male  by  which  their  mother  at  some  former  period  had 
been  impregnated.  *  'S'  *  Great  difficulty  has  been 
felt  by  physiological  writers  in  regard  to  the  proper 
explanation  of  this  kind  of  phenomena.  They  have 
been  ascribed  by  some  to  a  permanent  impression  made 
somehow  by  the  semen  of  the  first  male  on  the  genitals 


52  PRIXCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


and  more  particularly  on  the  ova  of  the  female  :*  and 
by  others  to  an  abiding  influence  exerted  by  him  on  the 
imagination  and  operating  at  the  time  of  her  connection 
subsequently  with  other  males  and  perhaps  during  her 
pregnancy  ;  but  they  seem  to  be  regarded  by  most 
physiologists  as  inexplicable. 

Very  recently,  in  a  paper  published  in  the  Aberdeen 
Journal,  a  Veterinary  Surgeon,  Mr.  James  McGillivray 
of  Huntley,  has  offered  an  explanation  which  seems  to 
me  to  be  the  true  one.  His  theory  is  that  "  ivhen  a 
pure  animal  of  any  breed  has  been  2)regnant  to  aji  animal 
of  a  different  breed,  such  pregnant  animal  is  a  cross  ever 
after,  the  purity  of  her  blood  being  lost  in  consequence  of 
Jier  connection  with  the  foreign  animal,  herself  BECOinxG 
A  CROSS  FOREVER,  incapoble  of  producing  a  pure  calf  of 
any  breed  J  ^ 

Dr.  Harvey  believes  "  that  while  as  all  allow,  a  por- 
tion of  the  mother's  blood  is  continually  passing  b}'' 
absorption  and  assimilation  into  the  body  of  the  foetus, 
in  order  to  its  nutrition  and  development,  a  portion  of 
the  blood  of  the  foetus  is  as  constantly  passing  in  like 
manner  into  the  body  of  the  mother  ;  that  as  this  com- 
mingles there  with  the  general  mass  of  the  mother's 

*  The  late  M.  A.  Cuming,  Y.  S. ,  of  New  Brunswick,  once  remarked 
to  the  writer,  that  it  might  be  due  to  the  fact  that  the  nerves  of  the 
uterus,  which  before  the  first  impregnation  were  in  a  rudimentary- 
state,  were  developed  under  a  specific  influence  from  the  semen  of  the 
first  male,  and  that  they  might  retain  so  much  of  a  peculiar  style  of 
development  as  to  impress  upon  future  progeny  by  other  males  the 
likeness  of  the  first. 


LAW  OF  VARIATION.  53 


own  blood,  it  inoculates  her  system  with  the  consti- 
tutional qualities  of  the  foetus,  and  that,  as  these  qual- 
ities are  in  part  derived  to  the  foetus  from  the  male 
progenitor,  the  peculiarities  of  the  latter  are  thereby  so 
ingrafted  on  the  system  of  the  female  as  to  be  commu- 
nicable by  her  to  any  offspring  she  may  subsequently 
have  by  other  males. '^ 

In  support  of  this  view,  Mr.  McGillivray  cites  a  case 
in  which  there  was  presented  unmistakable  evidence 
that  the  organization  of  the  placenta  admits  the  return 
of  the  venous  blood  to  the  mother  ;  and  Dr.  Harvey, 
with  much  force,  suggests  that  the  effect  produced  is 
analagous  to  the  known  fact  that  constitutional  syphilis- 
has  been  communicated  to  a  female  who  never  had  any 
of  the  primary  symptoms.  Regarding  the  occurrence 
of  such  phenomena.  Dr.  Harvey  under  a  later  date  says : 
"  since  then  I  have  learned  that  many  among  the  agri- 
cultural body  in  this  district  are  familiar  to  a  degree 
that  is  annoying  to  them  with  the  facts  then  adduced 
in  illustration  of  it,  finding  that  after  breeding  crosses, 
their  cows  though  served  with  bulls  of  their  own  breed 
yield  crosses  still  or  rather  mongrels  ;  that  they  were 
already  impressed  with  the  idea  of  contamination  of 
blood  as  the  cause  of  the  phenomenon ;  that  the  doc- 
trine so  intuitively  commended  itself  to  their  minds  as 
soon  as  stated,  that  they  fancied  they  were  told  nothing 


54  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDIXG. 


but  what  they  knew  before,  so  just  is  the  observation 
that  truth  pro^^osed  is  much  more  easily  perceived  than 
without  such  proposal  is  it  discovered."* 

Dr.  Carpenter,  speaking  of  phenomena  analogous  to 
what  are  here  alluded  to,  says  : 

"  Some  of  these  cases  appear  referable  to  the  strong 
impression  left  by  the  first  male  parent  upon  the  female  ; 
but  there  are  others  which  seem  to  render  it  more  likely 
that  the  blood  of  the  female  has  imbibed  from  that  of 
the  foetus,  through  the  placental  circulation,  some  of 
the  attributes  which  the  latter  has  derived  from  its 
male  parent,  and  that  the  female  may  communicate 
these,  with  those  proper  to  herself,  to  the  subsequent 
offspring  of  a  different  male  parentage.  This  idea  is 
borne  out  by  a  great  number  of  important  facts.  *  * 
As  this  is  a  point  of  great  practical  importance  it  may 
be  hoped  that  those  who  have  the  opportunity  of  bring- 
ing observation  to  bear  upon  it,  will  not  omit  to  do  so/' 

In  the  absence  of  more  general  and  accurate  observa- 
tions directed  to  this  point,  it  is  impossible  to  say  to 
what  extent  the  first  male  produces  impression  upon 
subsequent  progeny  by  other  males.  There  can  be  no 
doubt,  however,  but  that  such  an  impression  is  made. 
The  instances  where  it  is  of  so  marked  and  obvious  a 
character  as  in  some  of  those  just  related  may  be  com- 

*  Edinburorh  Journal  Medical  Science,  1849. 


LAW  OF  VARIATION.  55 


paratively  few,  yet  there  is  abundant  reason  to  believe, 
that  although  in  a  majority  of  cases  the  effect  may  be 
less  noticeable,  it  is  not  less  real,  and  demands  the 
special  attention  of  all  breeders. 

Whether  this  result  is  to  be  ascribed  to  inoculation 
of  the  system  of  the  female  with  the  characteristics  of 
the  male  through  the  foetus,  or  to  any  other  mode  of 
operation,  it  is  obviously  of  great  advantage  for  every 
breeder  to  know  it  and  thereby  both  avoid  error  and 
loss  and  secure  profit.  It  is  a  matter  which  deserves 
thorough  investigation  and  the  observations  should  be 
minute  and  have  regard  not  only  to  peculiarities  of 
form,  but  also  to  qualities  and  characteristics  not  so 
obvious  ;  for  instance  there  may  be  greater  or  less  har- 
diness, endurance  or  aptitude  to  fatten.  These  may  be 
usually  more  dependent  on  the  dam,  but  the  male  is 
never  without  a  degree  of  influence  upon  them,  and  it 
is  well  established  that  aptitude  to  fatten  is  usually 
communicated  by  the  Short-horn  bull  to  crosses  with 
cattle  of  mixed  or  mongrel  origin  which  are  often  very 
deficient  in  this  desirable  property. 

Mr.   McGillivray  says :  ''A  knowledge  of  the  fact 

must  be  of  the  greatest  benefit  to  the  breeder  iu  two 

ways,  positively  and  negatively.     I  have  known  very 

great  disappointment  and  loss  result  from  allowing  an 

inferior  male  to  serve  a  first  rate  female — the  useful- 
6 


56  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


ness  of  such  female  beiiig  thereby  forever  destroyed. 
As  for  the  positive  benefits  arising-  from  the  inocula- 
tion— they  are  obvious  to  any  unbiased  mind.  The 
black  polled  and  Aberdeenshire  cattle  common  to  this 
country  (Scotland)  may  be,  and  often  are,  improved  by 
the  following  plan  :  Select  a  good,  well  formed,,  and 
healthy  heifer — put  her,  in  proper  season,  to  a  pure 
Short-horn  bull ;  after  the  calf  to  this  Durham  bull, 
breed  from  the  cow  with  bulls  of  her  own  breed ;  occa- 
sionally, and  most  likely  the  first  time,  a  red  calf  ulti- 
mately having  horns  will  appear  even  from  the  polled 
bull  and  cow  ;  but  in  general  the  calves  will  be  of  the 
same  type  with  the  polled  parents  but  with  many 
points  improved,  and  an  aptitude  to  fatten,  to  come 
earlier  to  maturity,  &c.,  such  as  no  one  of  the  pure 
polled  or  Aberdeenshire  breed  ever  exhibited  in  this 
country,  or  any  other  country,  however  well  kept, 
previous  to  the  introduction  of  the  Short-horn  breed. 
The  ofispring  of  these  breeds  thus  improved,  when  bred 
from  again,  will  exhibit  many  points  and  qualities  of 
excellence  similar  to  the  best  crosses  but  retaining 
much  of  the  hardiness  of  the  original  stock,  no  mean 
consideration  for  this  changeable  and  often  severe 
climate.  And,  moreover,  such  crosses, — for  they  are 
crosses — will  command  high  prices  as  improved  polled 
or  Aberdeenshire  cattle.     I  happen  to  know  of  a  case 


LAW  OF  VARIATION.  57 


where  a  farmer,  from  a  distance  purchased  a  two  year 
old  heifer  of  the  stamp  referred  to,  for  the  purpose  of 
improving  his  polled  cattle,  and  for  this  heifer  he  paid 
fifty  guineas." 

The  knowledge  of  this  Jaw*  gives  us  a  clue  to  the 
cause  of  man}^  of  the  disappointments  of  which  practical 
breeders  often  complain  and  to  the  cause  of  many  vari- 
ations otherwise  unaccountable,  and  it  suggests  par- 
ticular caution  as  to  the  first  male  employed  in  the  • 
coupling  of  animals,  a  matter  which  has  often  been 
deemed  of  little  consequence  in  regard  to  cattle,  inas- 
much as  fewer  heifers'  first  calves  are  reared,  than  of 
such  as  are  borne  subsequently. 

Another  faint  ray  of  light  touching  the  causes  of 

*A  very  striking  fact  may  be  related  in  this  connection,  which 
■while  it  may  or  may  not  have  a  practical  bearing  on  the  breeding 
of  domestic  animals,  shows  forcibly  how  mysterious  are  some  of  the 
laws  of  reproduction.  It  is  stated  by  the  celebrated  traveler,  Count 
de  Strzelecki,  in  his  Physical  Description  of  New  South  Wales  and 
Van  Dieman's  Land.  "  Whenever,"  he  says,  "  a  fruitful  intercourse 
has  taken  place  between  an  aboriginal  woman  and  an  European  male, 
that  aboriginal  woman  is  forever  after  incapable  of  being  impreg- 
nated by  a  male  of  her  own  nation,  although  she  may  again  be 
fertile  with  a  European."  The  Count,  whose  means  and  powers  of 
observation  are  of  the  highest  possible  order,  affirms  that  "  hundreds 
of  instances  of  this  extraordinary  fixct  are  on  record  in  the  writer's 
memoranda  all  recurring  invariably  under  the  same  circumstances, 
all  tending  to  prove  that  the  sterility  of  the  female,  which  is  relative 
only  to  one  and  not  to  the  other  male  is  not  accidental,  but  follows 
laws  as  cogent  though  as  mysterious  as  the  rest  of  those  connected 
with  generation."    The  Count's  statement  is  endorsed  by  Dr.  Maun- 


58  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


variation  is  afforded  us  by  the  fact  that  the  qualities  of 
offspring  are  not  only  dependent  on  the  habitual  con- 
ditions of  the  parents,  but  also  upon  any  peculiar  con- 
dition existing  at  the  time  of  sexual  congress.  For 
instance,  the  offspring  of  pavents  ordinarily  healthy  and 
temperate,  but  begotten  in  a  fit  of  intoxication,  would 
be  likely  to  suffer  permanently,  both  physically  and 
mentally,  from  the  condition  which  the  parents  had 
temporarily  brought  upon  themselves.  On  the  other 
hand,  offspring  begotten  of  parents  in  an  unusually 
healthy  and  active  condition  of  body  and  mind,  would 
likely  be  unusually  endowed  both  mentally  and  physi- 
cally. The  Arabs  in  breeding  horses  take  advantage 
of  this  fact,  for  before  intercourse,  both  sire  and  dam 
are  actively  exercised,  not  to  weariness,  but  sufficiently 

seU  of  Dublin,  Dr.  Carmichael  of  Edinburgh,  and  the  late  Prof.  Good- 
sir,  who  say  they  have  learned  from  independent  sources  that  as 
regards  Australia,  Strzelecki's  statement  is  unquestionable  and  must 
be  regarded  as  the  expression  of  a  law  of  nature.  The  law  does  not 
extend  to  the  negro  race,  the  fertility  of  the  negro  female  not  being 
apparently  impaired  by  previous  fruitful  intercourse  with  a  Euro- 
pean male. 

In  reply  to  an  inquiry  made  whether  he  had  ever  noticed  excep- 
tional cases,  the  Count  says  :  "It  has  not  come  under  my  cogni- 
zance to  see  or  hear  of  a  native  female  which  having  a  child  with  a 
European  had  afterwards  any  oifspring  with  a  male  of  her  own  race." 

The  Count's  statement  is  suggestive  as  to  the  disappearance  of  the 
aborigines  of  some  countries.  This  has  often  been  the  subject  of 
severe  comment  and  is  generally  ascribed  to  the  rum  and  diseases 
introduced  by  the  white  man.  It  would  now  appear  that  other  influ- 
ences have  also  been  operative. 


LAW  OF  VARIATION.  59 


to  induce  the  most  vigorous  condition  possible.  Of 
this,  too,  we  have  proof  in  the  phenomenon  sometimes 
observed  by  breeders,  that  a  strong  mental  impression 
made  upon  the  female  by  a  particular  male,  will  give 
the  offspring  a  resemblance  to  him,  even  though  she 
have  no  sexual  intercourse  with  him.  Of  this,  Mr. 
Boswell  in  his  prize  essay  published  in  1828,  gives  a 
remarkable  instance.  He  says  that  Mr.  Mustard  of 
Angus,  one  of  the  most  intelligent  breeders  he  had  ever 
met  with,  told  him  that  one  of  his  cows  chanced  to 
come  into  season  while  pasturing  on  a  field  bounded 
by  that  of  one  of  his  neighbors,  out  of  which  field  an  ox 
jumped  and  went  with  the  cow  until  she  was  brought 
home  to  the  bull.  The  ox  was  white,  with  black  spots, 
and  horned.  Mr.  Mustard  had  not  a  horned  beast  in 
his  possession,  nor  one  with  any  white  on  it.  Never- 
theless, the  produce  of  the  following  spring  was  a  black 
and  white  calf  with  horns. 

The  case  of  Jacob  is  often  quoted  in  support  of  this 
view,  and  although  many  believe  some  miraculous 
agency  to  have  been  exerted  in  his  case,  and  though 
he  could  say  with  truth,  ''God  hath  taken  away  the 
cattle  of  your  father  and  given  them  to  me,'^  it  seems, 
on  the  whole,  more  probable,  inasmuch  as  supernatural 
agency  may  never  be  presumed,  except  where  we  know, 

or  have  good  reason  to  believe,  that  natural  causes  are 
6* 


GO  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


insufficient,  that  God  "gave'^  them,  as  he  now  gives  to 
some,  riches  or  honors  ;  that  is  to  say,  by  virtue  of  the 
operation  of  natural  laws.  If  all  who  keep  cattle  would 
exercise  a  tithe  of  the  patriarch's  shrewdness  and  sa- 
gacity in  improving  their  stock,  we  should  see  fewer 
ill-favored  kine  than  at  present. 

The  possibility  of  some  effect  being  produced  by  a 
strong  impression  at  the  time  of  conception,  is  not  to 
be  confounded  with  the  popular  error  that  ''marks" 
upon  an  infant*  are  due  to  a  transient,  although  strong 
impression  upon  the  imagination  of  the  mother  at  any 
period  of  gestation,  which  is  unsupported  by  facts  and 
absurd ;  but  there  are  facts  sufficient  upon  record  to 
prove  that  habitual  mental  condition,  and  especially  at 
an  early  stage  of  pregnancy,  Qiiay  have  the  effect  to 
produce  some  bodily  deformity,  and  should  induce 
great  caution, 

*  Carpenter's  Physiology,  new  edition,  page  783. 


ANCESTRAL  INFLUENCE.  61 


CHAPTER    IV. 

Atavism,  or  Ancestral  Influence. 

It  may  not  be  easy  to  say  whether  this  phenomenon 
is  more  connected  with  tlie  law  of  similarity,  or  with 
that  of  variation.  Youatt,  in  his  work  on  cattle  pub- 
lished by  the  Society  for  the  Diffusion  of  Useful  Knowl- 
edge, inclines  to  the  former.  He  speaks  of  it  as  show- 
ing the  universality  of  the  application  of  the  axiom  that 
"like  produces  like'' — that  when  this  ''may  not  seem 
to  hold  good,  it  is  often  because  the  lost  resemblance 
to  generations  gone  by  is  strongly  revived."  The  phe- 
nomenon, or  law,  as  it  is  sometimes  called,  of  atavism,* 
or  ancestral  influence,  is  one  of  considerable  practical 
importance,  and  well  deserves  careful  attention  by  the 
breeder  of  farm  stock. 

Every  one  is  aware  that  it  is  nothing  unusual  for  a 
child  to  resemble  its  grandfather  or  grandmother  or 
some  ancestor  still  farther  back,  more  than  it  does  either 
its  own  father  or  mother.  The  fact  is  too  familiar  to 
require  the  citing  of  examples.     We  find  the  same  oc- 

*  From  the  Latin  Atavus — meaning  any  ancestor  indefinitely,  as  a 
grandmother's  great  grandfather. 


62  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


currence  among'  our  domestic  animals,  and  oftener  in 
proportion  as  the  breeds  are  crossed  or  mixed  up. 
Among  our  common  stock  of  neat  cattle,  (natives,  as 
they  are  often  called,)  originating  as  they  have  done 
from  animals  brought  from  England,  Scotland,  Den- 
mark, France  and  Spain,  each  possessing  different  char- 
acteristics of  form,  color  and  use;  and  bred,  as  our 
common  stock  has  usually  been,  indiscriminately  to- 
gether, with  no  special  point  in  view,  no  attempt  to 
obtain  any  particular  type  or  form,  or  to  secure  adapta- 
tion for  any  particular  purpose,  we  have  very  frequent 
opportunities  of  witnessing  the  results  of  the  operation 
of  this  law  of  hereditary  transmission.  So  common 
indeed  is  its  occurrence,  that  the  remark  is  often  made, 
that  however  good  a  cow  may  be,  there  is  no  telling 
beforehand  what  sort  of  a  calf  she  may  have. 

The  fact  is  sufficiently  obvious  that  certain  peculiari- 
ties often  lie  dormant  for  a  generation  or  two  and  then 
reappear  in  subsequent  progeny.  Stockmen  often  speak 
of  it  as  ''breeding  back,"  or  "  crying  back."  The  cause 
of  this  phenomenon  we  may  not  fully  understand.  A 
late  writer  says,  ''it  is  to  be  explained  on  the  supposi- 
tion that  the  qualities  were  transmitted  by  the  grand- 
father to  the  father  in  whom  they  were  TJiasked  by  the 
presence  of  some  antagonistic  or  controlling-  influence, 
and  were  thence  transmitted  to  the  son  in  whom  the 


ANCESTRAL  INFLUENCE.  ^3 


antagonistic  influence  being  withdrawn  they  manifest 
themselves.  A  French  writer  on  Physiology  says,  if 
there  is  not  inheritance  of  paternal  characteristics,  there 
is  at  least  an  aptitude  to  inherit  them,  a  disposition  to 
reproduce  them  ;  and  there  is  always  a  transmission  of 
this  aptitude  to  some  new  descendants,  among  whom 
these  traits  will  manifest  themselves  sooner  or  later.* 
Mr.  Singer,  let  us  say,  has  a  remarkable  aptitude  for 
music ;  but  the  influence  of  Mrs.  Singer  is  such  that 
their  children  inheriting  her  imperfect  ear,  manifest  no 
musical  talent  whatever.  These  children  however  have 
inherited  the  disposition  of  the  father  in  spite  of  its 
non-manifestation  ;  and  if,  when  they  transmit  what  in 
them  is  latent,  the  influence  of  their  wives  is  favorable, 
the  grand-children  may  turn  out  musically  gifted. 

The  lesson  taught  by  the  law  of  atavism  is  very  plain. 
It  shows  the  importance  of  seeking  "thorough-bred" 
or  ''well-bred"  animals  ;  and  by  these  terms  are  simply 
meant  such  as  are  descended  from  a  line  of  ancestors  in 
which  for  many  generations  the  desirable  forms,  quali- 
ties and  characteristics  have  been  uniformly  shown.  In 
such  a  case,  even  if  ancestral  influence  does  come  in 

*  "  S'il  n'y  a  pas  heritage  des  caracteres  paternels  il  y  a  done  au 
moins  aptitude  k  en  heriter,  disposition  a.  les  reproduire,  et  toujoux's 
cette  transmission  de  cette  aptitude  a  des  noveau  descendants,  cliez 
lesquels  ces  memes  caracteres  se  manifesteront  tot  ou  tard." — LongeVs 
"  Traite  de  Physiologic,''  ii:  133. 


64  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


pla}^,  no  material  difference  appears  in  the  offspring,  the 
ancestors  being  all  essentially  alike.  From  this  stand 
point  we  best  perceive  in  what  consists  the  money  value 
of  a  good  "pedigree."  It  is  in  the  evidence  which  it 
brings  that  the  animal  is  descended  from  a  line  all  the 
individuals  of  which  were  alike,  and  excellent  of  their 
kind,  and  so  is  almost  sure  to  transmit  like  excellencies 
to  its  progeny  in  turn ; — not  that  every  animal  with  a 
long  pedigree  full  of  high-sounding  names  is  necessa- 
rily of  great  value  as  a  breeder,  for  in  every  race  or 
breed,  as  we  have  seen  while  speaking  of  the  law  of 
variation,  there  will  be  here  and  there  some  which  are 
less  perfect  and  symmetrical  of  their  kind  than  others  ; 
and  if  such  be  bred  from,  they  may  likely  enough  trans- 
mit undesirable  points  ;  and  if  they  be  mated  with 
others  possessing  similar  failings,  they  are  almost  sure 
to  deteriorate  very  considerably. 

Pedigree  is  valuable  in  proportion  as  it  shows  an 
animal  to  be  descended,  not  only  from  such  as  are 
purely  of  its  own  race  or  breed,  but  also  from  such  in- 
dividuals in  that  breed  as  were  speciallj^  noted  for  the 
excellencies  for  which  that  particular  breed  is  esteemed. 
Weeds  are  none  the  less  worthless  because  they  appear 
among  a  crop  consisting  chiefly  of  valuable  plants,  nor 
should  deformed  or  degenerate  plants,  although  they 
be  true  to  their  kind,  ever  be  employed  to  produce  seed. 


ANCESTRAL  INFLUENCE.  35 


If  we  would  have  good  cabbages  or  turnips,  it  is  need- 
ful to  select  the  most  i^erfect  and  the  soundest  to  grow 
seed  from,  and  to  continue  such  selection  year  after 
year.  Precisely  the  same  rule  holds  with  regard  to 
animals. 

The  pertinacity  with  which  hereditary  traits  cling  to 
the  organization  in  a  latent,  masked  or  undeveloj^ed 
condition  for  long  after  they  might  be  supposed  to  be 
wholly  "bred  out''  is  sometimes  very  remarkable. 
What  is  known  among  breeders  of  Short-horns  as  the 
''Galloway  alloy,"  although  originating  by  the  employ- 
ment for  only  once  of  a  single  animal  of  a  different 
breed,  is  said  to  be  traceable  even  now,  after  many 
years,  in  the  occasional  development  of  a  "smutty 
nose"  in  descendants  of  that  family. 

Many  years  ago  there  were  in  the  Kennebec  valley 
a  few  polled  or  hornless  cattle.  They  were  not  partic- 
ularly cherished,  and  gradually  diminished  in  numbers. 
Mr.  Payne  Wingate  shot  the  last  animal  of  this  breed, 
(a  bull  calf  or  a  yearling,)  mistaking  it  in  the  dark  for 
a  bear.  During  thirty-five  years  subsequently  all  the 
cattle  upon  his  farm  had  horns,  but  at  the  end  of  that 
time  one  of  his  cows  produced  a  calf  which  grew  up 
without  horns,  and  Mr.  Wingate  said  it  was,  in  all  re- 
spects, the  exact  image  of  the  first  bull  of  the  breed 
brought  there. 

Probably  the  most  familiar  exemplification  of  clearly 


66  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


marked  ancestral  influence  among  us,  is  to  be  found  in 
the  ill-begotten,  round-breeched  calves  occasionally, 
and  not  very  unfrequently,  dropped  by  cows  of  the 
common  mixed  kind,  and  which,  if  killed  early,  make 
very  blue  veal,  and  if  allowed  to  grow  up,  become 
exceedingly  profitless  and  unsatisfactory  beasts ;  the 
heifers  being  often  sterile,  the  cows  poor  milkers,  the 
oxen  dull,  mulish  beasts,  yielding  flesh  of  very  dark 
color,  ill  flavor  and  destitute  of  fat.  They  are  known 
by  various  names  in  different  localities,  in  Maine  as  the 
''Whitten''  and  ''Peter  Waldo"  breed,  in  Massachu- 
setts as  "  Yorkshire"  and  "  Westminster,"  in  New  York 
as  the  ''  Pumpkin  buttocks,"  in  England  as  "  Lyery^' 
or  "  Lyery  Dutch,"  &c.,  &c. 

Those  in  northern  New  England  are  believed  to  be 
descended  chiefly  from  a  bull  brought  from  Watervliet, 
near  Albany,  New  York,  more  than  forty  years  ago, 
(in  1818,)  by  the  Shakers  at  Alfred,  in  York  county, 
Maine,  and  afterwards  transferred  to  their  brethren  in 
Cumberland  county.  No  one  who  has  proved  the 
worthlessness  of  these  cattle  can  readily  believe  that 
any  bull  of  this  sort  would  have  been  knowingly  kept 
for  service  since  the  first  one  brought  into  the  State, 
and  yet  it  is  by  no  means  a  rare  occurrence  to  find 
calves  dropped  at  the  present  time  bearing  unmistaka- 
ble evidence  of  that  origin. 

It  seems  likely  that  this  disagreeable  peculiarity  was 


ANCESTRAL  INFLUENCE.  67 


first  brought  into  the  country  by  means  of  some  of  the 
early  importations  of  Dutch  or  of  the  old  Durham  breed. 
CuUey,  in  speaking  of  the  Short-horns,  inclines  to  the 
opinion  that  they  were  originally  from  Holland,  and 
himself  recollected  men  who  in  the  early  part  of  their 
lives  imported  Dutch  cattle  into  the  county  of  Durham, 
and  of  one  Mr.  Dobinson  he  says,  he  was  noted  for 
having  the  best  breed  of  Short-horns  of  any  and  sold  at 
high  prices.  ''But  afterwards  some  other  persons  of 
less  knowledge,  going  over,  brought  home  some  bulls 
that  introduced  the  disagreeable  kind  of  cattle  called 
lyery  or  double  lyered,  that  is,  black-fleshed.  These  will 
feed  to  great  weight,  but  though  fed  ever  so  long  will 
not  have  a  pound  of  fat  about  them,  neither  within  or 
without,  and  the  flesh  (for  it  does  not  deserve  to  be 
called  beef)  is  as  black  and  coarse  grained  as  horse 
flesh.  No  man  will  buy  one  of  this  kind  if  he  knows 
any  thing  of  the  matter,  and  if  he  should  be  once  taken 
in  he  will  remember  it  well  for  the  future  ;  people  con- 
versant with  cattle  very  readily  find  them  out  by  their 
round  form,  particularly  their  buttocks,  which  are 
turned  like  a  black  coach  horse,  and  the  smallness  of 
the  tail ;  but  they  are  best  known  to  the  graziers  and 
dealers  in  cattle  by  the  feel  or  touch  of  the  fingers  ;  in- 
deed it  is  this  nice  touch  or  feel  of  the  hand  that  in  a 
great  measure  constitutes  the  judge  of  cattle.'' 
7 


68  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


CHAPTER   V. 

Relative  Influence  of  the  Parents. 

The  relative  influence  of  the  male  and  female  parents 
upon  the  characteristics  of  progeny  has  long  been  a 
fertile  subject  of  discussion  among  breeders.  It  is 
found  in  experience  that  progeny  sometimes  resembles 
one  parent  more  than  the  other, — sometimes  there  is 
an  apparent  blending  of  the  characteristics  of  both, — 
sometimes  a  noticeable  dissimilarity  to  either,  though 
always  more  or  less  resemblance  somewhere,  and  some- 
times, the  impress  of  one  may  be  seen  upon  a  portion 
of  the  organization  of  the  offspring  and  that  of  the 
other  parent  upon  another  portion  ;  yet  we  are  not  au- 
thorized from  such  discrepancies  to  conclude  that  it  is 
a  matter  of  chance,  for  all  of  nature's  operations  are 
conducted  by  fixed  laws,  whether  we  be  able  fully  to 
discover  them  or  not.  The  same  causes  always  pro- 
duce the  same  results.  In  this  case,  not  less  than  in 
others  there  are,  beyond  all  doubt,  fixed  laws,  and  the 
varying  results  which  we  see  are  easily  and  sufficiently 
accounted  for  by  the  existence  of  conditions  or  modify- 
ing influences  not  fully  patent  to  our  observation. 


RELATIVE  INFLUENCE  OF  THE  PARENTS.  ^9 


In  the  year  1825,  the  Highland  Society  of  Scotland, 
proposed  as  the  subject  of  prize  essays,  the  solution  of 
the  question,  "  whether  the  breed  of  live  stock  con- 
nected with  agriculture  be  susceptible  of  the  greatest 
improvement  from  the  qualities  conspicuous  in  the  male 
or  from  those  conspicuous  in  the  female  parent?'' 
Four  essays  received  premiums.  Mr.  Boswell,  one  of 
the  prize  writers,  maintained  that  it  is  not  only  the 
male  parent  which  is  capable  of  most  speedily  improv- 
ing the  breed  of  live  stock,  ''but  that  the  male  is  the 
parent  which  we  can  alone  look  to  for  improvement.'' 

His  paper  is  of  considerable  length  and  ably  written — 
abounding  in  argument  and  illustrations  not  easily  con- 
densed so  as  to  be  given  here,  and  it  is  but  justice  to 
add  that  he  also  holds  that  ''before  the  breed  of  a 
country  can  be  improved,  much  more  must  be  looked 
to  than  the  answer  to  the  question  put  by  the  Highland 
Society — such  as  crossing,  selection  of  both  parents, 
attention  to  pedigree,  and  to  the  food  and  care  of  off- 
spring." 

And  of  crossing,  he  says,  "when  I  praise  the  advan- 
tage of  crossing,  I  would  have  it  clearly  understood 
that  it  is  only  to  bring  together  animals  not  nearly 
related  but  always  of  the  same  breed ;  never  attempting 
to  breed  from  a  speed  horse  and  a  draught  mare  or  vice 
versa."     Crossing  of  breeds  "may  do  well  enough  for 


70  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


once,  but  will  end  in  vexation,  if  attempted  to  be  pro- 
longed into  a  line." 

Mr.  Christian,  in  his  essay,  supports  the  view,  that 
the  offspring  bears  the  greatest  resemblance  to  that 
parent  whether  male  or  female,  which  has  exerted  the 
greatest  sway  of  generative  influence  in  the  formation 
of  the  foetus,  '^that  any  hypothesis  which  would  assign 
a  superiority,  or  set  limits  to  the  influence  of  either 
sex  in  the  product  of  generation  is  unsound  and  inad- 
missible,'^ and  he  thus  concludes — ''  as  therefore  it  is 
unsafe  to  trust  to  the  qualities  of  any  individual  ani- 
mal, male  or  female,  in  improving  stock,  the  best  bred 
and  most  perfect  animals  of  both  sexes  should  be  se- 
lected and  employed  in  propagation  ;  there  being,  in 
short,  no  other  certain  or  equally  efficacious  means  of 
establishing  or  preserving  an  eligible  breed.'' 

Mr.  Dallas,  in  his  essay,  starts  with  the  idea  that  the 
seminal  fluid  of  the  male  invests  the  ovum,  the  forma- 
tion of  which  he  ascribes  to  the  female  ;  and  he  sup- 
ports the  opinion,  that  where  external  appearance  is 

concerned,  the  influence  of  the  male  will  be  discovered  ; 
but  in  what  relates  to  internal  qualities,  the  offspring 

will  take  most  from  the  female.  He  concludes  thus  : — 
^'  When  color,  quality  of  fleece,  or  outward  form  is 
wanted,  the  male  may  be  most  depended  on  for  these  ; 
but  when  milk  is  the  object,  when  disposition,  hardi- 


RELATIVE  INFLUENCE  OF  THE  PARENTS.  71 


ness,  and  freedom  from  diseases  of  the  viscera,  and,  in 
short,  all  internal  qualities  that  may  be  desired,  then 
the  female  may  be  most  relied  on." 

One  of  the  most  valuable  of  these  papers  was  written 
by  the  Kev.  Henry  Berry  of  Worcestershire,  in  which, 
after  stating  that  the  question  proposed  is  one  full  of 
difficulty  and  that  the  discovery  of  an  independent  qual- 
ity such  as  that  alluded  to,  in  either  sex,  would  be  at- 
tended with  beneficial  results,  he  proceeds  to  show, 
that  it  is  not  to  sex,  but  to  high  blood,  or  in  other 
words,  to  animals  long  and  successfully  selected,  and 
bred  with  a  view  to  particular  qualifications,  whether 
in  the  male  or  female  parent,  that  the  quality  is  to  be 
ascribed,  which  the  Highland  Society  has  been  desir- 
ous to  assign  correctly. 

The  origin  of  the  prevalent  opinion  which  assigns 
this  power  principally  to  the  male,  he  explains  by  giv- 
ing the  probable  history  of  the  first  efforts  in  improving 
stock.  The  greatest  attention  would  naturally  be  paid 
to  the  male,  both  on  account  of  his  more  extended  ser- 
vices, and  the  more  numerous  produce  of  which  he 
could  become  the  parent ;  in  consequence  of  which  sires 
would  be  well-bred  before  dams.  ''  The  ideas  enter- 
tained respecting  the  useful  qualities  of  an  animal 
would  be  very  similar  and  lead  to  the  adoption  of  a 

general  standard  of  excellence,  towards  which  it  would 
7* 


72  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


be  required  that  each  male  should  approximate ;  and 
thus  there  would  exist  among  what  may  be  termed 
fashionable  sires,  a  corresponding  form  and  character 
different  from,  and  superior  to,  those  of  the  general 
stock  of  the  country.  This  form  and  character  would 
in  most  instances  have  been  acquired  by  perseverance 
in  breeding  from  animals  which  possessed  the  important 
or  fancied  requisites,  and  might  therefore  be  said  to  be 
almost  confirmed  in  such  individuals.  Under  these  cir- 
cumstances, striking  results  would  doubtless  follow  the 
introduction  of  these  sires  to  a  common  stock  ;  results 
which  would  lead  superficial  observers  to  remark,  that 
individual  sires  possessed  properties  as  males,  which 
in  fact  were  only  assignable  to  them  as  improved  ani- 
mals." 

The  opinion  entertained  by  some,  that  the  female 
possesses  the  power  generally  ascribed  to  the  male,  he 
explains  also  by  a  reference  to  the  history  of  breeding : 
''  It  is  well  known  to  persons  conversant  with  the  sub- 
ject of  improved  breeding,  that  of  late  years  numerous 
sales  have  taken  place  of  the  entire  stocks  of  celebrated 
breeders  of  sires,  and  thus,  the  females,  valuable  for 
such  a  purpose,  have  passed  into  a  great  number  of 
hands.  Such  persons  have  sometimes  introduced  a  cow 
so  acquired  to  a  bull  inferior  in  point  of  descent  and 
general  good  qualities,  and  the  offspring  is  known,  in 


RELATIVE  INFLUENCE  OF  THE  PARENTS.  73 


many  instances,  to  have  proved  superior  to  the  sire  by 
virtue  of  the  dam's  excellence,  and  to  have  caused  a 
suspicion  in  the  minds  of  persons  not  habituated  to  com- 
pare causes  with  effects,  that  certain  females  also  pos- 
sess the  property  in  question." 

The  writer  gives  various  instances  illustrative  of  his 
views,  in  some  of  which  the  male  only,  and  in  others 
the  female  only,  was  the  high-bred  animal,  in  all  of 
which  the  progeny  bore  a  remarkable  resemblance  to 
the  well-bred  parent.  He  says,  that  where  both  parents 
are  equally  well  bred,  and  of  nearly  equal  individual 
excellence,  it  is  not  probable  that  their  progeny  will 
give  general  proof  of  a  preponderating  power  in  either 
parent  to  impress  peculiar  characteristics  upon  the  off- 
spring ; — yet  in  view  of  all  the  information  we  have 
upon  the  subject,  he  recommends  a  resort  to  the  best 
males  as  the  most  simple  and  efficacious  mode  of  im- 
proving such  stocks  as  require  improvement,  and  the 
only  proceeding  by  which  stock  already  good  can  be 
preserved  in  excellence. 

Mon.  Giron*  expresses  the  opinion  that  the  relative 
age  and  vigor  of  the  parents  exercises  very  considera- 
ble influence,  and  states  as  the  results  -of  his  observa- 
tion, that  the  offspring  of  an  old  male  and  a  young 
female  resembles  the  father  less  than  the  mother  in  pro- 

*In  his  work,  '^De  la  Generation,"  Paris,  1828. 


74  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


portion  as  the  mother  is  more  vigorous  and  the  father 
more  decrepit,  and  that  the  reverse  occurs  with  the 
offspring  of  an  old  female  and  a  young  male. 

Among  the  more  recent  theories  or  hypotheses  which 
have  been  started  regarding  the  relative  influence  of 
the  male  and  female  parents,  those  of  Mr.  Orton,  pre- 
sented in  a  paper  read  before  the  Farmers'  Club  at 
Newcastle  upon  Tyne,  on  the  Physiology  of  Breeding, 
and  of  Mr.  Walker  in  his  work  on  Intermarriage,  as 
they  both  arrived  to  a  certain  extent,  at  substantially 
the  same  conclusions  by  independent  observations  of 
their  own  and  as  these  seem  to  agree  most  nearly  with 
the  majority  of  observed  facts,  are  deemed  worthy  of 
favorable  mention. 

The  conclusions  of  Mr.  Orton,  briefly  stated,*  are, 
that  in  the  progeny  there  is  no  casual  or  haphazard 
blending  of  the  parts  or  qualities  of  the  two  parents, 
but  rather  that  organization  is  transmitted  by  halves, 
or  that  each  parent  contributes  to  the  formation  of 
certain  structures,  and  to  the  development  of  certain 
qualities.  Advancing  a  step  further,  he  maintains,  that 
the  male  parent  chiefly  determines  the  external  charac- 
ters, the  general  appearance,  in  fact,  the  outward  struct- 
ure and  locomotive    powers   of  the    offspring,   as  the 

♦Quoted,  in  part,  from  a  paper  by  Alex.  Harvey,  M.  D.,  read  be- 
fore the  Medical  Society  of  Southampton,  .June  6th,  1854. 


RELATIVE  IXFLUEXCE  OF  THE  PARENTS.  75 


framework,  or  bones  and  muscles,  more  particularly 
those  of  the  limbs,  the  organs  of  sense  and  skin ;  while 
the  female  parent  chiefly  determines  the  internal  struct- 
ures and  the  general  quality,  mainly  furnishing  the  vital 
organs,  i.  e.,  the  heart,  lungs,  glands  and  digestive 
organs,  and  giving  tone  and  character  to  the  vital  func- 
tions of  secretion,  nutrition  and  growth.  ''Not  how- 
ever that  the  male  is  without  influence  on  the  internal 
organs  and  vital  functions,  or  the  female  without  influ- 
ence on  the  external  organs  and  locomotive  powers  of 
their  oifspring.  The  law  holds  only  within  certain  re- 
strictions, and  these  form  as  it  were  a  secondary  law, 
one  of  limitations,  and  scarcely  less  important  to  be 
understood  than  the  fundamental  law  itself." 

Mr.  Orton  relies  chiefly  on  the  evidence  presented  by 
lujhrich,  the  progeny  of  distinct  species,  or  by  crosses 
between  the  most  distinct  varieties  embraced  within  a 
single  species,  to  establish  his  law.  The  examples 
adduced  are  chiefly  from  the  former.  The  mule  is  the 
progeny  of  the  male  ass  and  the  mare  ;  the  liinny,  that 
of  the  horse  and  the  she  ass.  Both  hybrids  are  the 
produce  of  the  same  set  of  animals.  They  differ  widely, 
however,  in  their  respective  characters — the  mule  in 
all  that  relates  to  its  external  characters  having  the 
distinctive  features  of  the  ass, — the  hinny,  in  the  same 
respects  having  all  the  distinctive  features  of  the  horse  ; 


76  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


while  in  all  that  relates  to  the  internal  organs  and  vital 
qualities,  the  mule  partakes  of  the  character  of  the 
horse,  and  the  hinny  of  those  of  the  ass.  Mr.  Orton 
says — ''  The  mule,  the  produce  of  the  male  ass  and 
mare,  is  essentially  a  modified  ass :  the  ears  are  those 
of  an  ass  somewhat  shortened ;  the  mane  is  that  of  the 
ass,  erect ;  the  tail  is  that  of  an  ass ;  the  skin  and  color 
are  those  of  an  ass  somewhat  modified ;  the  legs  are 
slender  and  the  hoofs  high,  narrow  and  contracted,  like 
those  of  an  ass.  In  fact,  in  all  these  respects  it  is  an 
ass  somewhat  modified.  The  body  and  barrel,  how- 
ever, of  the  mule  are  round  and  full,  in  which  it  differs 
from  the  ass  and  resembles  the  mare. 

The  hinny,  on  the  other  hand,  the  produce  of  the 
stallion  and  she  ass,  is  essentially  a  modified  ho7'se. 
The  ears  are  those  of  a  horse  somewhat  lengthened ; 
the  mane  flowing  ;  the  tail  bushy,  like  that  of  the  horse ; 
the  skin  is  finer,  like  that  of  the  horse,  and  the  color 
varies  also,  like  the  horse ;  the  legs  are  stronger  and 
the  hoofs  broad  and  expanded  like  those  of  the  horse. 
In  fact,  in  all  these  respects  it  is  a  horse  somewhat 
modified.  The  body  and  barrel,  however,  of  the  hinny 
are  flat  and  narrow,  in  which  it  differs  from  the  horse 
and  resembles  the  she  ass. 

A  very  curious  circumstance  pertains  to  the  voice  of 
the  mule  and  the  hinny.     The  mule  brays,  the  hinny 


RELATIVE  INFLUENCE  OF  THE  PARENTS.  77 


neighs.  The  why  and  wherefore  of  this  is  a  perfect 
mystery  until  we  come  to  apply  the  knowledge  aiforded 
us  by  the  law  before  given.  The  male  gives  the  loco- 
motive organs,  and  the  muscles  are  amongst  these  ; 
the  muscles  are  the  organs  which  modulate  the  voice 
of  the  animal ;  the  mule  has  the  muscular  structure 
of  its  sire,  and  brays ;  the  hinny  has  the  muscular 
structure  of  its  sire,  and  neighs." 

In  connexion  with  these  examples  Mr.  Orton  refers 
to  a  special  feature  seen  equally  in  the  two  instances, 
and  which  seems  at  first  sight,  a  departure  from  the 
principle  laid  down  by  him.  It  is  this,  both  hybrids, 
the  mule  and  the  hinny  take  after  the  male  parents  in 
all  their  external  characters  save  one,  which  is  size. 
In  this  respect  they  both  follow  the  female  parents,  the 
male  being  in  all  respects  a  larger  and  finer  animal  than 
its  sire,  the  ass  ;  the  hinny  being  in  all  respects  a  smaller 
and  inferior  animal  to  its  sire,  the  horse,  the  body  and 
barrel  of  the  mule  being  large  and  round,  those  of  the 
hinny  being  flat  and  narrow ;  both  animals  being  in 
these  particulars  the  reverse  of  their  respective  sires, 
but  both  resembling  their  female  parents. 

In  explanation  of  this  seeming  exception  is  adduced 
a  well  known  princij^le  in  physiology,  which  is,  that  the 
whole  bony  framework  is  moulded  in  adaptation  to  the 
softer  structures  immediately  related  to  it ;  the  muscles 


78  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


covering  it  in  the  case  of  the  limbs  ;  and  to  the  viscera 
in  that  of  the  great  cavities  which  it  assists  in  forming. 
Accordingly,  in  perfect  accordance  with  the  views 
above  expressed,  the  general  size  and  form  which  must 
be  mainly  that  of  the  trunk,  will  be  determined  by  the 
size  and  character  of  the  viscera  of  the  chest  and  abdo- 
men, and  will  therefore  accord  with  that  of  the  female 
parents  by  whom  the  viscera  in  question  are  chiefly 
furnished. 

The  foregoing  are  the  most  important  of  Mr.  Orton's 
statements.  He  gives,  however,  numerous  additional 
illustrations  from  among  beasts,  birds  and  fishes,  of 
which  we  quote  only  the  following : 

^'The  mule  and  the  hinny  have  been  selected  and 
placed  first,  because  they  afford  the  most  conclusive 
evidence  and  are  the  most  familiar.  Equally  conclu- 
sive, though  perhaps  less  striking  instances,  may  be 
drawn  from  other  sources.  Thus,  it  has  been  observed 
that  when  the  Ancon  or  Otter  sheep  were  allowed  to 
breed  with  common  ewes,  the  cross  is  not  a  medium 
between  the  two  breeds,  but  that  the  offspring  retains 
in  a  great  measure  the  short  and  twisted  legs  of  the 
sire. 

Buffon  made  a  cross  between  the  male  goat  and  the 
ewe  ;  the  resulting  hybrid  in  all  the  instances,  which 
were  many,  were  strongly  characteristic  of  the  male 


RELATIVE  INFLUENCE  OF  THE  PARENTS.  79 


parent,  more  particularly  in  the  hair  and  length  of  leg. 
Curious  enough,  the  number  of  teats  in  some  of  the 
cases  corresponded  with  those  of  the  goat. 

A  cross  between  the  male  wolf  and  a  bitch  illustrates 
the  same  law ;  the  offspring  having  a  markedly  wolfish 
aspect ;  skin,  color,  ears  and  tail.  On  the  other  hand, 
a  cross  between  the  dog  and  female  wolf  afforded  ani- 
mals much  more  dog-like  in  aspect — slouched  ears 
and  even  pied  in  color.  If  you  look  at  the  descriptions 
and  illustrations  of  these  two  hybrids,  you  will  perceive 
at  a  glance  that  the  doubt  arises  to  the  mind  in  the  case 
of  the  first,  '  what  genus  of  ivolf  is  this  V  whereas  in 
the  case  of  the  second,  '  what  a  curious  mongrel  dog  !' 

The  views  of  Mr.  Walker  in  his  work  on  Intermar- 
riage, before  alluded  to,  agree  substantially  with  those 
of  Mr.  Orton,  so  far  as  regards  crossing  between  differ- 
ent breeds ;  but  they  cover  a  broader  field  of  observa- 
tion and  in  some  respects  differ.  Mr.  AYalker  main- 
tains that  when  both  parents  are  of  the  same  breed 
that  either  parent  may  transmit  either  half  of  the  organi- 
zation. That  when  they  are  of  different  varieties  or 
breeds  (and  by  parity  of  reasoning  the  same  should 
hold,  strongly,  when  liybrids  are  produced  by  crossing 
different_specze£)  and  supposing  also  that  both  parents 
are  of  equal  age  and  vigor,  that  the  male  gives  the  back 

head  and  locomotive  organs  and  the  female  the  face  and 

8 


80  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


nutritive  organs — I  quote  his  language  :  '  when  both 
parents  are  of  the  same  variety,  one  parent  communi- 
cates the  anterior  ijart  of  the  head,  the  bony  part  of  the 
face,  the  forms  of  the  organs  of  sense  (the  external  ear, 
under  lip,  lower  part  of  the  nose  and  eye  brows  being 
often  modified)  a?id  the  whole  of  the  internal  nutritive 
system,  (the  contents  of  the  trunk  or  the  thoracic  and 
abdominal  viscera,  and  consequently  the  form  of  the 
trunk  itself  in  so  far  as  that  depends  on  its  contents.) 

The  resemblance  to  that  parent  is  consequently  found 
in  the  forehead  and  bony  parts  of  the  face,  as  the  orbits, 
cheek  bones,  jaws,  chin  and  teeth,  as  well  as  the  shape 
of  the  organs  of  sense  and  the  tone  of  the  voice. 

T}ie  other  ptarent  communicates  the  posterior  part  of 
the  head,  the  cerebel  situated  icithin  the  skull  immediately 
above  its  junction  with  the  bach  of  the  neck,  and  the  lohole 
of  the  locomotive  system;  (the  bones,  ligaments  and  mus- 
cles or  fleshy  parts.) 

The  resemblance  to  that  parent  is  consequently  found 
in  the  back  head,  the  few  more  movable  parts  of  the 
face,  as  the  external  ear,  under  lip,  lower  part  of  the 
nose,  eyebrows,  and  the  external  forms  of  the  body,  in 
so  far  as  they  depend  on  the  muscles  as  well  as  the 
form  of  the  limbs,  even  to  the  fingers,  toes  and  nails.  *  * 

It  is  a  fact  established  by  my  observations  that  in 
animals  of  the  same  variety,  either  the  male  or  the  female 


RELATIVE  INFLUENCE  OF  THE  PARENTS.  81 


parent  may  give  either  series  of  organs  as  above  ar- 
ranged— that  is  either  forehead  and  organs  of  sense, 
together  with  the  vital  and  nutritive  organs,  or  back 
head,  together  with  the  locomotive  organs." 

To  show  that  among  domesticated  animals  organiza- 
tion is  transmitted  by  halves  in  the  way  indicated,  and 
that  either  parent  may  give  either  series  of  organs,  he 
cites  among  other  instances  the  account  of  the  Ancon 
sheep.  "  When  both  parents  are  of  the  Ancon  or 
Otter  breed,  their  descendants  inherit  their  peculiar 
appearance  and  proportions  of  form.  When  an  Ancon 
ewe  is  impregnated  by  a  common  ram,  the  progeny 
resembles  wholly  either  the  ewe  or  the  ram.  The  pro- 
geny of  a  common  ewe  impregnated  by  an  Ancon  ram 
follows  entirely  in  shape  the  one  or  the  other  without 
blending  any  of  the  distinguishing  and  essential  pecu- 
liarities of  both. 

'  Frequent  instances  have  occurred  where  common 
ewes  have  had  twins  by  Ancon  rams  ;  when  one  exhi- 
bited the  complete  marks  and  features  of  the  ewe  and 
the  other  of  the  ram.  The  contrast  has  been  rendered 
singularly  striking  when  one  short  legged  and  one  long 
legged  lamb  produced  at  a  birth  have  been  sucking  the 
dam  at  the  same  time.' 

As  the  short  and  crooked  legs  or  those  of  opposite 
form,  here  indicate  the  parent  giving  the  locomotive 


32  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


system,  it  is  evident  that  one  of  the  twins  derived  it 
from  one  parent  and  the  other  twin  from  the  other 
parent ; — the  parent  not  giving  it,  doubtless  communi- 
cating in  each  case,  the  vital  or  nutritive  system/' 
_  Where  the  parents  are  of  different  varieties  or  species, 
Mr.  Walker  says,  "The  second  law,  namely,  that  of 
CEOSsiNG,  operates  where  each  parent  is  of  a  different 
breed,  and  where,  supposing  both  to  be  of  equal  age 
and  vigor,  the  male  gives  the  back  head  and  locomotive 
organs,  and  the  female  the  face  and  nutritive  organs.'^ 

After  giving  numerous  illustrations  from  facts  and 
many  quotations  from  eminent  breeders,  he  says,  ''thus, 
in  crosses  of  cattle  as  well  as  of  horses,  the  male,  except 
where  feebler  or  of  inferior  voluntary  and  locomotive 
power,  gives  the  locomotive  system,  the  female  the 
vital  one.'' 

W.  C.  Spooner,  Y.  S.,  one  of  the  most  eminent  au- 
thorities of  the  present  day  on  this  subject,  and  writing 
within  the  past  year  in  the  Journal  of  the  Royal  Agri- 
cultural Society,  says  : — "The  most  probable  supposi- 
tion is,  that  propagation  is  done  by  halves,  each  parent 
giving  to  the  offspring  the  shape  of  one  half  of  the 
body.  Thus  the  back,  loins,  hind-quarters,  general 
shape,  skin  and  size  follow  one  parent ;  and  the  fore- 
quarters,  head,  vital  and  nervous  system,  the  other ; 
and  we  may  go  so  far  as  to  add,  that  the  former  in  the 


RELATIVE  INFLUENCE  OF  THE  PARENTS. 


great  majority  of  cases  go  with  the  male  parent,  and 
the  latter  with  the  female.  A  corroboration  of  this  fact 
is  found  in  the  common  system  of  putting  an  ordinary 
mare  to  a  thorough-bred  horse ;  not  only  does  the  head 
of  the  offspring  resemble  the  dam  but  the  forelegs  like- 
wise, and  thus  it  is  fortunately  the  case  that  the  too- 
frequently  faulty  and  tottering  legs  of  the  sire  are  not 
reproduced  in  the  foal,  whilst  the  full  thighs  and  hind 
quarters  which  belong  to  the  blood-horse  are  generally 
given  to  the  offspring.  There  is  however  a  minority 
of  cases  in  which  the  opposite  result  obtains.  That 
size  is  governed  more  by  the  male  parent  there  is  no 
great  difiSculty  in  showing ;  familiar  examples  may  be 
found  in  the  pony-mare  and  the  full  sized  horse,  which 
considerably  exceed  the  dam  in  size.  Again,  in  the 
first  cross  between  the  small  indigenous  ewe  and  the 
large  ram  of  another  improved  breed — the  offspring  is 
found  to  approach  in  size  and  shape  very  much  to  the 
ram.  The  mule  offspring  of  the  mare  also  much  resem- 
bles both  in  size  and  appearance  its  donkey  sire.  These 
are  familiar  examples  of  the  preponderating  influence 
of  the  male  parent,  so  far  as  the  external  form  is  con- 
sidered. To  show  however  that  size  and  hight  do  not 
invariably  follow  the  male,  we  need  go  no  further  for 
illustration  than  the  human  subject.  How  often  do  we 
find  that  in  the  by  no  means  unfrequent  case  of  the 


84  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


union  of  a  tall  man  with  a  short  woman,  the  result  in 
some  instances  is  that  all  the  children  are  tall  and  in 
others  all  short ;  or  sometimes  that  some  are  short  and 
others  tall.  Within  our  own  knowledge  in  one  case, 
where  the  father  was  tall  and  the  mother  short,  the 
children,  six  in  number,  are  all  tall.  In  another  in- 
stance, the  father  being  short  and  the  mother  tall,  the 
children,  seven  in  number,  are  all  of  lofty  stature.  In 
a  third  instance,  the  mother  being  tall  and  the  father 
short,  the  greater  portion  of  the  family  are  short.  Such 
facts  as  these  are  sufficient  to  prove  that  hight  or 
growth  does  not  exclusively  follow  either  the  one  parent 
or  the  other.  Although  this  is  the  case,  it  is  also  a 
striking  fact  that  the  union  of  tall  and  short  parents 
rarely,  if  ever,  produces  offspring  of  a  medium  size — 
midway,  as  it  were,  between  the  two  parents. 

Thus,  in  the  breeding  of  animals,  if  the  object  be  to 
modify  certain  defects  by  using  a  male  or  female  in 
which  such  defects  may  not  exist,  we  cannot  produce 
this  desired  alteration  ;  or  rather  it  cannot  be  equally 
produced  in  all  the  offspring,  but  can  only  be  attained 
by  weeding  out  those  in  whom  the  objectionable  points 
are  repeated.  We  are,  however,  of  opinion  that  in  the 
majority  of  instances,  the  hight  in  the  human  subject, 
and  the  size  and  contour  in  animals,  is  influenced  much 
more  by  the  male  than  the  female  parent — and  on  the 


RELATIVE  INFLUENCE  OF  THE  PAPtENTS.  85 


other  hand,  that  the  constitution,  the  chest  and  vital 
org-ans,  and  the  forehand  generally  more  frequently 
follow  the  female/' 

Dr.  Carpenter,  the  highest  authority  in  Physiology, 
says  ''it  has  long  been  a  prevalent  idea  that  certain 
parts  of  the  organism  of  the  offspring  are  derived  from 
the  male,  and  certain  other  parts  from  the  female 
parent ;  and  although  no  universal  rule  can  be  laid 
down  upon  this  point,  yet  the  independent  observa- 
tions which  have  been  made  by  numerous  practical 
breeders  of  domestic  animals  seem  to  establish  that 
such  a  tendency  has  a  real  existence ;  the  characters  of 
the  animal  portion  of  the  fabric  being  especially  (but 
not  exclusively)  derived  from  the  male  parent,  and  those 
of  the  organic  apparatus  being  in  like  manner  derived 
from  the  female  parent.  The  former  will  be  chiefly 
manifested  in  the  external  appearance,  in  the  general 
configuration  of  the  head  and  limbs,  in  the  organs  of 
the  senses  (including  the  skin)  and  in  the  locomotive 
apparatus  ;  whilst  the  latter  show  themselves  in  the  size 
of  the  body  (which  is  primarily  determined  by  the  devel- 
opment of  the  viscera  contained  in  the  trunk)  and  in  the 
mode  in  which  the  vital  functions  are  performed." 

On  the  whole  it  may  be  said  that  the  evidence  both 
from  observation  and  the  testimony  of  the  best  practical 
breeders  goes  to  show  that  each  parent  usually  con- 


86  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


tributes  certain  portions  of  the  organization  to  the 
offspring,  and  that  each  has  a  modifying  influence  upon 
the  other.  Facts  also  show  that  the  same  parent  does 
not  always  contribute  the  same  portions,  but  that  the 
order  is  reversed.  Now,  as  no  operation  of  nature  is 
by  accident,  but  by  virtue  of  laiv,  there  must  be  fixed 
laws  here,  and  there  must  also  be,  at  times,  certain  in- 
fluences at  work  to  modify  the  action  of  these  laws. 
Where  animals  are  of  distinct  species,  or  of  distinct 
breeds,  transmission  is  usually  found  to  be  in  accord- 
ance with  the  rule  above  indicated,  i.  e.  the  male  gives 
mostly  the  outward  form  and  locomotive  system,  and 
the  female  chiefly  the  interior  sj^stem,  constitution,  &c. 
Where  the  parents  are  of  the  same  breed,  it  appears 
that  the  portions  contributed  by  each  are  governed  in 
large  measure  by  the  condition  of  each  in  regard  to  age 
and  vigor,  or  by  virtue  of  individual  potency  or  superi- 
ority of  physical  endowment. 

This  potency  or  power  of  transmission  seems  to  be 
legitimately  connected  with  high  breeding,  or  the  con- 
centration of  fixed  qualities  obtained  by  continued  de- 
scent for  many  generations  from  such  only  as  possess 
in  the  highest  degree  the  qualities  desired.  On  the 
other  hand  it  must  be  admitted  that  there  are  excep- 
tional cases  not  easily  accounted  for  upon  any  theory, 
and  it  seems  not  improbable  that  in  these  the  modifying 


RELATIVE  INFLUENCE  OF  THE  PARENTS.  87 


influences  may  be  such  as  to  effect  what  may  approxi- 
mate a  reconstruction  or  new  combination  of  the  ele- 
ments, in  a  manner  analogous  to  the  chemical  changes 
which  we  know  take  place  in  the  constituents  of  vege- 
tables, as  for  instance,  we  find  that  sugar,  gum  and 
starch,  substances  quite  unlike  in  their  appearance  and 
uses,  are  yet  formed  from  the  same  elements  and  in 
nearly  or  precisely  the  same  proportions,  by  a  chemistry 
which  we  have  not  yet  fathomed.  Whether  this  sup- 
position be  correct  or  not,  there  is  little  doubt  that  if 
we  understood  fully  all  the  influences  at  work,  and  could 
estimate  fairly  all  the  data  to  judge  from,  we  might 
predict  with  confidence  what  would  be  the  characteris- 
tics of  the  progeny  from  any  given  union. 

Practically,  the  knowledge  obtained  dictates  in  a 
most  emphatic  manner  that  every  stock-grower  use  his 
utmost  endeavor  to  obtain  the  services  of  the  best 
sires  ;  that  is,  the  best  for  the  end  and  purposes  in  view — 
that  he  depend  chiefly  on  the  sire  for  outward  form  and 
symmetry — that  he  select  dams  best  calculated  to  de- 
velop the  good  qualities  of  the  male,  depending  chiefly 
upon  these  for  freedom  from  internal  disease,  for  hardi- 
hood, constitution,  and  generally  for  all  qualities  de- 
pendent upon  the  vital  or  nutritive  system. 

The  neglect  which  is  too  common,  and  especially  in 
breeding  horses,  to  the  qualities  of  the  dam,  miserably 


88  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


old  and  inferior  females  being  often  employed,  cannot 
be  too  strongly  censured.  In  rearing  valuable  horses 
the  dams  are  not  of  less  consequence  than  the  sires, 
although  their  influence  upon  the  progeny  be  not  the 
same.  This  is  well  understood  and  practiced  upon  by 
the  Arab,  who  cultivates  endurance  and  bottom.  If  his 
mare  be  of  the  true  Kochlani  breed  he  will  part  with 
her  for  no  consideration  whatever,  while  you  can  buy 
his  stallion  at  a  comparatively  moderate  price.  The 
prevalent  practice  in  England  and  America  of  cultiva- 
ting speed  in  preference  to  other  qualities,  has  led  us 
to  attach  greater  importance  to  the  male,  and  the  too 
common  neglect  of  health,  vigor,  endurance  and  consti- 
tution in  the  mares  has  in  thousands  of  cases  entailed 
the  loss  of  qualities  not  less  valuable,  and  without  which 
speed  alone  is  of  comparatively  little  worth. 


SEX.  89 


CHAPTER    VI. 

Sex. 

With  regard  to  the  laws  which  regulate  the  sex  of 
progeny  very  little  is  known.  Many  and  extensive 
observations  have  been  made,  but  without  arriving  at 
any  definite  conclusions.  Nature  seems  to  have  pro- 
vided that  the  number  of  either  sex  produced,  shall  be 
nearly  equal,  but  by  what  means  this  result  is  attained, 
has  not  been  discovered.  Some  physiologists  think  the 
sex  decided  by  the  influence  of  the  sire,  others  think  it 
due  to  the  mother.  Sir  Everard  Home  believed  the 
ovum  or  germ,  previous  to  impregnation  to  be  of  no 
sex,  but  so  formed  as  to  be  equally  fitted  to  become 
either  male  or  female,  and  that  it  is  the  process  of 
impregnation  which  marks  the  sex  and  forms  the  gen- 
erative organs  ;  that  before  the  fourth  month  the  sex 
cannot  be  said  to  be  confirmed,  and  that  it  will  prove 
male  or  female  as  the  tendency  to  the  paternal  or  ma- 
ternal type  may  preponderate. 

Mr.  T.  A.  Knight*  was  of  opinion  that  the  sex  of 
progeny  depended  upon   the  influence  of  the    female 

♦Philosophical  Transactions,  1809. 


90  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


parent.  He  says,  ''The  female  parent's  influence  upon 
the  sex  of  offspring  in  cows,  and  I  have  reason  to  be- 
lieve in  the  females  of  our  other  domestic  animals,  is  so 
strong,  that  it  may,  I  think,  be  pronounced  nearly 
positive.''  He  also  says,  "I  have  repeatedly  proved 
that  by  dividing  a  herd  of  thirty  cows  into  three  equal 
parts,  I  could  calculate  with  confidence  upon  a  large 
majority  of  females  from  one  part,  of  males  from  an- 
other, and  upon  nearly  an  equal  number  of  males  and 
females  from  the  remainder.  I  have  frequently  en- 
deavored to  change  the  habits  by  changing  the  male 
without  success."  He  relates  a  case  as  follows: — 
''  Two  cows  brought  all  female  offspring,  one  fourteen 
in  fifteen  years,  and  the  other  fifteen  in  sixteen  years, 
though  I  annually  changed  the  bull.  Both  however 
produced  one  male  each,  and  that  in  the  same  year ; 
and  I  confidently  expected,  when  the  one  produced  a 
male  that  the  other  would,  as  she  did." 

M.  Giron,  after  long  continued  observation  and  ex- 
periment, stated  with  much  confidence,  that  the  general 
law  upon  this  point  was,  that  the  sex  of  progeny  would 
depend  on  the  greater  or  less  relative  vigor  of  the  in- 
dividuals coupled.  In  many  experiments  purposely 
made,  he  obtained  from  ewes  more  males  than  females 
by  coupling  very  strong  rams  with  ewes  either  too 
young,  or  too  aged,  or  badly  fed,  and  more  females  than 


SEX.  91 

males  by  a  reverse  choice  in  the  ewes  and  rams  he  put 
together, 

Mon.  Martegoute,  formerly  Professor  of  Rural  Econ- 
omy, in  a  late  communication  to  the  ''Journal  D'Agri- 
culture  Pratique/'  says  that  as  the  result  of  daily 
observations  at  a  sheepfold  of  great  importance,  that 
of  the  Dishley  Mauchamp  Merinos  of  M.  Yiallet  at 
Blanc,  he  has,  if  not  deceived,  obtained  some  new  hints. 
He  states  that  Giron's  law  developed  itself  regularly 
at  the  sheepfold  in  all  cases  where  difference  of  vigor 
was  observed  in  the  ewes  or  rams  which  were  coupled ; 
but  he  adds  another  fact,  which  he  had  observed  every 
year  since  1853,  when  his  observations  began.  This 
fact  consists — 

First,  In  that  at  the  commencement  of  the  rutting 
season  when  the  ram  is  in  his  full  vigor  he  procreated 
more  males  than  females. 

Second,  When,  some  days  after,  and  the  ewes  coming 
in  heat  in  great  numbers  at  once,  the  ram  being  weak- 
ened by  a  more  frequent  renewal  of  the  exertion,  the 
procreation  of  females  took  the  lead. 

Third,  The  period  of  excessive  exertion  having 
passed,  and  the  number  of  ewes  in  heat  being  dimin- 
ished, the  ram  also  found  less  weakened,  the  procrea- 
tion of  males  in  majority  again  commenced.'' 

In  order  to  show  that  the  cause  of  such  a  result  is 
9 


92  PRIXCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


isolated  from  all  other  influences  of  a  nature  to  be  con- 
founded with  it,  he  gives  the  details  of  his  observations 
in  a  year  when  the  number  of  births  of  males  and 
females  were  about  equal.  He  also  goes  on  to  say, 
that,  ''  at  the  end  of  each  month  all  the  animals  at  the 
sheepfold  are  weighed  separately,  and  thanks  to  these 
monthl}^  weighings,  we  have  drawn  up  several  tables 
from  which  are  seen  the  diminution  or  increase  in 
weight  of  the  different  animals  classed  in  various  points 
of  view,  whether  according  to  age,  sex  or  the  object 
for  which  they  were  intended. 

Two  of  these  tables  have  been  appropriated  to  bear- 
ing ewes — one  to  those  which  have  borne  and  nursed 
males  and  the  other  to  those  which  have  borne  and 
brought  up  females.  The  abstract  results  of  these  two 
tables  have  furnished  two  remarkable  facts. 

First,  The  ewes  that  have  produced  the  female  lambs 
are,  on  an  average,  of  a  weight  superior  to  those  that 
produced  the  males ;  and  they  evidently  lose  more  in 
weight  than  these  last  during  the  suckling  period. 

Second,  The  ewes  that  produce  males  weigh  less,  and 
do  not  lose  in  nursing  so  much  as  the  others. 

If  the  indications  given  by  these  facts  come  to  be 
confirmed  by  experiments  sufficiently  repeated,  two 
new  laws  will  be  placed  by  the  side  of  that  which  Giron 
de  Bazareingues  has  determined  by  his  observations 


SEX.  93 

and  experiments.  On  the  one  hand,  as,  at  liberty,  or 
in  the  savage  state,  it  is  a  general  rule  that  the  pre- 
dominance in  acts  of  generation  belongs  to  the  strong- 
est males  to  the  exclusion  of  the  weak,  and  as  such  a 
predominance  is  favorable  to  the  procreation  of  the 
male  sex,  it  would  follow  that  the  number  of  males 
would  tend  to  surpass  incessantly  that  of  the  females, 
amongst  whom  no  want  of  energy  or  power  would  turn 
aside  from  generation,  and  the  species  would  find  in  it 
a  fatal  obstacle  to  its  reproduction.  But,  on  the  other 
hand,  if  it  was  true  that  the  strongest  females  and  the 
best  nurses  amongst  them  produce  females  rather  than 
males,  nature  would  thus  oppose  a  contrary  law,  which 
would  establish  the  equilibrium,  and  by  an  admirable 
harmony  would  secure  the  perfection  and  preservation 
of  the  species,  by  confiding  the  reproduction  of  either 
sex  to  the  most  perfect  type  of  each  respectively." 


94  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


CHAPTER     YII. 
In-and-in  Breeding. 

It  has  long  been  a  disputed  point  whether  the  system 
of  breeding  in-and-in  or  the  opposite  one  of  frequent 
crossing  has  the  greater  tendency  to  maintain  or  im- 
prove the  character  of  stock.  The  advocates  of  both 
systems  are  earnest  and  confident  of  being  in  the  right. 
The  truth  probably  is,  as  in  some  other  similar  disputes, 
that  both  are  right  and  both  wrong — to  a  certain  ex- 
tent, or  within  certain  limits. 

The  term  in-and-in  is  often  very  loosely  used  and  is 
variously  understood ;  some,  and  among  these  several 
of  the  best  writers,  confine  the  phrase  to  the  coupling 
of  those  of  exactly  the  same  blood,  i.  e.  brothers  and 
sisters  ;  while  others  include  in  it  breeding  from  parents 
and  oifspring,  and  others  still  employ  the  term  to  em- 
brace those  of  more  distant  relationship.  For  the  lat- 
ter, the  term  breeding  in,  or  close  breeding,  is  deemed 
more  fitting. 

The  prevalent  opinion  is  decidedly  against  the  prac- 
tice of  breeding  from  any  near  relationships  ;  it  being 
usually  found  that  degeneracy  follows,  and  often  to  a 


IN-AXD-IN    BREEDIXG.  95 


serious  degree  ;  but  it  is  not  proved  that  this  degener- 
acy, although  very  common  and  even  usual,  is  yet  a 
necessary  consequence.  That  ill  effects  follow  in  a 
majority  of  cases  is  not  to  be  doubted,  but  this  is  easily 
and  suJSciently  accounted  for  upon  other  grounds.  In 
a  state  of  nature  animals  of  near  afiSnities  interbreed 
without  injurious  results,  and  it  is  found  by  experience 
that  where  domesticated  animals  are  of  a  pure  race,  or 
of  a  distinct,  well  defined  and  pure  breed,  the  coupling 
of  those  of  near  afiiuities  is  not  so  often  followed  by 
injurious  effects  as  when  they  are  crosses,  or  of  mixed 
or  mongrel  origin,  like  the  great  majority  of  the  cattle 
in  the  country  at  large.  In  the  latter  case  breeding 
in-and-in  is  usually  found  to  result  in  decided  and  rapid 
deterioration.  We  should  consider  also  that  few  ani- 
mals in  a  state  of  domestication  are  wholly  free  from 
hereditary  defects  and  diseases,  and  that  these  are  pro- 
pagated all  the  more  readily  and  surely  when  possessed 
by  both  parents,  and  that  those  nearly  related  are  more 
likely  than  others,  to  possess  similar  qualities  and  ten- 
dencies. 

If  such  is  to  be  regarded  as  the  true  explanation,  it 
follows  that  the  same  method  would  be  also  efficacious 
in  perpetuating  and  confirming  good  qualities.  Such 
is  the  fact ;  and  it  is  well  known  that  nearly  all  who 
have  achieved  eminence  as  breeders,  have  availed  them- 


96  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


^ 


selves  freely  of  its  benefits.  Bakewell,  the  Messrs. 
Colling,  Mr.  Mason,  Mr.  Bates  and  others,  all  prac- 
ticed it.  Mr.  Bates'  rule  was,  "  breed  in-and-in  from  a 
bad  stock  and  you  cause  ruin  and  devastation,  they 
must  always  be  changing-  to  keep  even  moderately  in 
caste  ;  but  if  a  good  stock  be  selected,  you  may  breed 
in-and-in  as  much  as  you  please.''*  Bakewell  origina- 
ted his  famous  sheep  by  crossing  from  the  best  he  could 
gather  from  far  or  near  ;  but  when  he  had  obtained  such 
as  suited  him,  he  bred  exclusively  from  within  his  own. 
As  in  all  breeding  from  crosses,  it  was  needful  to  throw 
out  as  weeds,  a  large  proportion  of  the  progeny,  but  by 
rigidly  doing  so,  and  saving  none  to  breed  from  but 
such  as  became  more  and  more  firmly  possessed  of  the 
forms  and  qualities  desired,  the  weeds  gradually  became 
fewer,  until  at  length  he  fully  established  the  breed  ; 
and  he  continued  it,  and  sustained  its  high  reputation 
during  his  life  by  in-breeding  connected  ivith  proper 
selections  for  coupling.  After  his  death,  others,  not 
possessing  his  tact  and  judgment  in  making  selections, 
were  less  fortunate,  and  in  some  hands  the  breed  degen- 
erated seriously,  insomuch  that  it  was  humorously  re- 
marked, "there  was  nothing  but  a  little  tallow  left." 
In  others  it  has  been  maintained  by  the  same  method. 

*  Mr.  Bates,  although  eminent  as  a  breeder,  was  not  infallible  in 
making  his  selections,  and  after  long  continued  close  breeding,  he  was 
compelled  to  go  out  of  his  own  herd  to  procure  breeding  animals. 


IN-AXD-IX  BREEDING.  97 


Mr.  Valentine  Barford  of  Foscote,  has  the  pedigree  of 
his  Leicester  sheep  since  the  day  of  Bakewell,  in  1783, 
and  since  1810,  he  has  bred  entirely  from  his  own  flock, 
sire  and  dam,  without  an  inter-change  of  male  or  female 
from  any  other  flock.  He  observes  "that  his  flock  be- 
ing bred  from  the  nearest  afiinities — commonly  called 
in-and-in  breeding — has  not  experienced  any  of  the  ill 
eff"ects  ascribed  to  the  practice."  W.  C.  Spooner,  Y.  S., 
speaking  of  Mr.  Barford's  sheep  says,  "  His  flock  is 
remarkably  healthy  and  his  rams  successful,  but  his 
sheep  are  small. '^ 

Mr.  Charles  Colling,  after  he  procured  the  famous 
bull  Hubback,  selected  cows  most  likely  to  develop  his 
special  excellencies,  and  from  the  progeny  of  these  he 
bred  very  closely.  From  that  day  to  this,  the  Short- 
horns as  a  general  thing,  have  been  very  closely  bred,* 

*  Probably  few  who  have  not  critically  examined  the  facts  regard- 
ing close  breeding  in  the  improved  Short-horns  are  aware  of  the 
extent  to  which  it  has  been  carried.  On  the  28th  of  March,  1860, 
at  a  sale  of  Short-horns  at  Milcote,  near  Stratford  upon  Avon 
(England)  thirty-one  descendants  of  a  cow  called  "  Charmer,"  bred 
of  Mr.  Colling's  purest  blood,  and  praised  in  the  advertisement  as 
"capital  milkers  and  very  prolific,  not  having  been  pamper ed,^^  sold 
for  £2,140,  averagingabout  S350  each,  and  many  of  them  were  calves. 
The  stock  was  also  praised  as  "  oifering  to  the  public  as  much  of  the 
pure  blood  of '  Favorite'  as  could  be  found  in  any  herd. ' '  With  refer- 
ence to  this  sale,  which  also  comprised  other  stock,  the  Agi-icultural 
Gazette,  published  a  few  days  previous,  had  some  remarks  from  which 
the  following  is  extracted: 

"It  is  unquestionable  that  the  ability  of  a  cow  or  bull  to  transmit 


PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


and  the  practice  has  been  carried  so  far,  the  selections 
not  always  being  the  most  judicious  possible,  as  to  re- 

the  merit  either  may  possess  does  in  a  great  degree  depend  upon  its 
having  been  inherited  by  them  through  a  long  line  of  ancestry. 
Nothing  is  more  remarkable  than  the  way  in  which  the  earlier  im- 
provers of  the  Short-horn  breed  carried  out  their  belief  in  this.  They 
wei'e  indeed  driven  by  the  comparative  fewness  of  well  bred  animals 
to  a  repeated  use  of  the  same  sire  on  successive  generations  of  his 
own  begetting,  while  breeders  now-a-days  have  the  advantage  of  fifty 
different  strains  and  families  from  which  to  choose  the  materials  of 
their  herd,  but  whether  it  were  necessity  or  choice  it  is  certain  that 
the  pedigree  of  no  pure  bred  Short-horn  can  be  traced  without  very 
soon  reaching  many  an  illustration  of  the  way  in  which  '  breeding 
in-and-in'  has  influenced  its  character,  deepened  it,  made  it  perma- 
nent, so  that  it  is  handed  down  unimpaired  and  even  strengthened 
in  the  hands  of  the  judicious  breeder.  What  an  extraordinary  influ- 
ence has  thus  been  exerted  by  a  single  bull  on  the  fortunes  of  the 
Short-horn  breed  !  There  is  hardly  a  single  choice  pure-bred  Short- 
horn that  is  not  descended  from  '  Favorite'  (252)  and  not  only 
descended  in  a  single  line — but  descended  in  fifty  different  lines. 
Take  any  single  animal,  and  this  bull  shall  occur  in  a  dozen  of  its 
preceding  generations  and  repeatedly  uj)  to  a  hundred  times  !  in  the 
animals  of  some  of  the  more  distant  generations.  His  influence  is 
thus  so  pai-amount  in  the  breed  that  one  fancies  he  has  created  it  and 
that  the  present  character  of  the  whole  breed  is  due  the  '  accidental' 
appearance  of  an  animal  of  extraordinary  endowments  on  the  stage 
in  the  beginning  of  the  present  century.  And  yet  this  is  not  so ; — he 
is  himself  an  illustration  of  the  breeding  in-and-in  system — his  sire 
and  dam  having  been  half  brother  and  sister,  both  got  by  '  Foljambe.' 
And  this  breeding  in-and-in  has  handed  down  his  influence  to  the 
present  time  in  an  extraordinary  degree.  Take  for  instance,  the  cow 
'  Charmer,'  from  which  as  will  be  seen  elsewhere,  no  fewer  than 
thirty-one  descendants  are  to  be  sold  next  Wednesday.  She  had  of 
course  two  immediate  parents,  four  progenitors  in  the  second  gener- 
ation, eight  in  the  third,  sixteen  in  the  fourth,  the  number  necessarily 
doubling  each  step  farther  back.  Of  the  eight  bulls  named  in  the 
fourth  generation  from  which  she  was  descended,  one  was  by  '  Favor- 


IN-AND-IN  BREEDING. 


suit  in  many  cases  in  delicacy  of  constitution,  and  in 
some  where  connected  with  pampering,  in  sterility. f 

Col.  Jaques,  of  the  Ten  Hills  Farm  near  Boston, 
imported  a  pair  of  Bremen  geese  in  1822.  They  were 
bred  together  till  1830,  when  the  gander  was  acciden- 
tally killed.  Since  then  the  goose  bred  with  her  off- 
spring till  she  was  killed  by  an  attack  of  dogs  in  1852. 
Great  numbers  were  bred  during  this  time,  and  of  course 
there  was  much  of  the  closest  breeding,  yet  there  was 

ite.'  She  is  one-sixteenth  'Favorite'  on  that  account,  but  the  cow 
to  which  he  was  then  put  was  also  descended  from  '  Favoi-ite,'  and 
so  are  each  of  the  other  seven  bulls  and  seven  cows  which  stand  on 
the  same  level  of  descent  with  the  gr.  gr.  g.  dam  of '  Charmer. '  And 
in  fact  it  will  be  found  on  examination  that  in  so  far  as  '  Charmer's' 
pedigree  is  known,  which  it  is  in  some  instances  to  the  sixteenth 
generation,  she  is  not  one-sixteenth  only  but  nearly  nine-sixteenths 
of  pure  Favorite  blood.  This  arise's  from  'Favorite'  having  been 
used  repeatedly  on  cows  descended  from  himself.  In  the  pedigree  of 
'  Charmer'  we  repeatedly  meet  with  '  Comet' — '  Comet'  was  by  '  Fa- 
vorite' and  his  dam  '  Young  Phoenix'  was  also  by  'Favorite  ;'  with 
'  George' — '  George'  was  by  '  Favorite'  and  his  dam  '  Lady  Grace' 
was  also  by  'Favorite;'  with  '  Chilton' — '  Chilton'  was  by  'Favorite' 
and  his  dam  was  also  by  '  Favorite;'  with  'Minor' — 'Minor'  was  by 
'  Favorite'  and  his  dam  also  was  by  '  Favorite;'  with  '  Peeress' — she 
was  by  'Favorite'  and  her  dam  also  by  'Favorite;'  with  'Bright 
Eyes' — she  was  by  '  Favorite'  and  her  dam  also  by  '  Favorite;'  with 
'Strawberry' — she  was  by  'Favorite'  and  her  dam  by  'Favorite;' 
'Dandy,'  'Moss  Rose,'  among  the  cows  and  'North  Star'  among 
the  bulls  are  also  of  similar  descent. 

There  is  no  difficulty  therefore  in  understanding  how  this  name 
appears  repeatedly  in  any  given  generation  of  the  pedigree  of  any 
given  animal  of  the  Short-horn  breed." 

t  Journal  Royal  Agricultural  Society,  volume  20,  page  297. 


100  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


no  deterioration,  and  in  fact  some  of  the  later  ones  were 
larger  and  better  than  the  first  pair. 

The  same  gentleman  also  obtained  a  pair  of  wild 
geese  from  Canada  in  1818,  which  with  their  progeny 
were  bred  from  without  change  until  destroyed  by  dogs 
with  the  above  named  in  1852.  They  continued  perfect 
as  at  first. 

Among  gregarious  ruminating  animals  in  a  state  of 
nature,  all  who  associate  in  a  herd  acknowledge  a  chief- 
tain, or  head,  who  maintains  his  position  by  virtue  of 
physical  health,  strength  and  general  superiority.  He 
not  only  directs  all  their  movements  but  is  literally  the 
father  of  the  herd.  When  a  stronger  than  he  comes, 
the  post  of  chieftain  and  sire  is  yielded,  but  in  all  proba- 
bility his  successor  is  one  of  his  own  sons,  who  in  turn 
begets  ofispring  by  his  sisters.  The  progeny  inherit- 
ing full  health,  strength  and  development,  the  herd 
continues  in  full  power  and  vigor,*  and  does  not  degen- 
erate as  often  happens  when  man  assumes  to  make  the 
selections,  and  chooses  according  to  fancy  or  conveni- 
ence.    The  continuance  of  health,  strength  and  perfect 

*  It  may  be  said  with  truth,  that  the  average  health  and  vigor  of  a 
wild  herd  is  much  higher  than  it  would  be  if  the  feebler  portion  of 
the  young  were  reared,  as  in  a  state  of  domestication,  instead  of  being 
destroyed  by  the  stronger,  or  perishing  from  hardship ;  but  if  close 
breeding  be,  of  itself  and  necessarily,  injurious,  the  whole  herd  should 
gradually  fail,  which  is  not  found  to  be  the  case. 


IX-AXD-IX  BREEDING.  IQl 


physical  development  is  believed  to  depend  on  the  ivis- 
dom  of  the  selection,  upon  the  presence-  of  the  desirable 
hereditary  qualities,  and  the  absence  of  injurious  ones,  and 
not  upon  relationship  whether  near  or  remote. 

It  has  fallen  within  the  observation  of  most  persons 
that  in  the  human  race  frequent  intermarriages  in  the 
same  family  for  successive  generations  often  tend  to 
degeneracy  of  both  mind  and  body ;  size  and  vigor 
diminishing,  and  constitutional  defects  and  diseases 
being  perpetuated  and  aggravated  ;  but  neither  in  this 
case  is  the  result  believed  to  be  a  necessary  and  inevi- 
table consequence.  Else  how  could  it  be,  that  Infinite 
AVisdom,  whose  operations  are  ever  in  accordance  with 
the  laws  of  his  own  institution,  in  originating  a  ''pe- 
culiar people,''  chosen  to  be  the  depositories  of  intel- 
lectual ar.d  physical  power,  wealth  and  influence,  and 
who,  in  spite  of  oppression  without  parallel  in  the 
world's  history,  have  ever  maintained  the  possession  of 
a  goodly  share  of  all  these, — would  have  allowed  their 
first  progenitor,  Abraham,  to  marry  his  near  kinswoman 
Sarah,  a  half  sister,  niece  or  cousin,  and  Isaac  their  son 
to  wed  his  first  cousin  Eebecca,  and  Jacob  who  sprang 
from  that  union,  to  marry  first  cousins,  and  their  off- 
spring for  long  generations  to  intermarry  within  their 
own  people  and  tribes  alone  ?  At  a  later  period,  mar- 
riages  within   certain  degrees  of  consanguinity  were 


^ 


102  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


forbidden  by  Divine  authority,  but  not  until  the  pecu- 
liar race  was  fully  established,  and  so  far  multiplied,  as 
to  allow  departure  from  close  breeding  without  change 
of  characteristics,  and  not  improbably  the  prohibition 
was  even  then  based  more  upon  moral  reasons,  or  upon 
man's  ignorance  or  recklessness  regarding  selection, 
than  upon  physical  law. 

Such  laws  exist  among  us  at  present,  and  it  is  well 
they  do,  inasmuch  as  for  the  reasons  already  given 
there  is  greater  probability  of  degeneracy  by  means  of 
such  connections  than  among  those  not  so  related  by 
blood.  But  they  present  an  instance  of  the  imperfec- 
tion of  human  laws,  it  being  impossible  for  any  legal 
enactments  to  prevent  wholly  the  evil  thus  sought  to 
be  avoided.  It  would  be  better  far,  if  such  a  degree  of 
physiological  knowledge  existed  and  such  caution  was 
exercised  among  the  community  generally,  as  would 
prevent  the  contraction  of  any  marriages,  where,  from 
the  structure  and  endowments  of  the  parties,  debility, 
deformity,  insanity  or  idiocy  must  inevitably  be  the 
portion  of  their  offspring  whether  they  are  more 
nearly  related  than  through  their  common  ancestor, 
Noah,  or  not. 

If  we  adopt  Mr.  Walker's  views,  it  is  easy  to  see  how 
parents  of  near  affinities  may  produce  offspring  perfect 
and  healthy,  or  the  reverse.     He  holds,  that  to  secure 


IX-AND-IN  BREEDIXG.  IQS 


satisfactory  results  from  any  union,  there  should  be 
some  inherent,  constitutional,  or  fundamental  differ- 
ence ;  some  such  difference  as  we  often  see  in  the 
human  family  to  be  the  ground  of  preference  and  at- 
tachment ;  as  men  generally  prefer  women  of  a  feminine 
rather  than  a  masculine  type.  All  desire,  in  a  mate, 
properties  and  qualities  not  possessed  by  themselves. 
Now  assuming  as  Mr.  Walker  holds,  that  organization 
is  transmitted  by  halves,  and  that,  in  animals  of  the 
same  variety,  either  parent  may  give  either  series  of 
organs,  we  can  see  in  the  case  of  brother  and  sister 
that  if  one  receives  the  locomotive  system  of  the  father 
and  the  nutritive  system  of  the  mother,  and  the  other 
the  locomotive  system  of  the  mother  and  the  nutritive 
system  of  the  father,  they  are  essentially  unlike,  there 
is  scarcely  any  similarity  between  them,  although,  as 
we  say,  of  precisely  the  same  blood  ;  and  their  progeny 
if  coupled  might  show  no  deterioration  ;  whereas,  if 
both  have  the  same  series  of  organs  from  the  same 
parents,  they  would  be  essentiall}^  the  same,  a  sort  of 
quasi  identity  would  exist  between  them,  and  they  are 
utterly  unfit  to  be  mated.  There  might  be  impotency, 
or  barrenness,  or  the  progeny,  if  any,  would  be  decid- 
edly inferior  to  the  parents  ;  and  the  same  applies,  more 
or  less,  to  other  relatives  descended  from  a  common 
ancestry,  but  more  distant  than  brother   and   sister. 

10 


104  PRIXCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


Mr.  Walker  also  holds  that  where  the  parents  are  not 
only  of  the  same  variety  but  of  the  same  family  in  the 
narrowest  sense,  the  female  always  gives  the  locomo- 
tive system  and  the  father  the  nutritive  ;  in  which  case 
the  progeny  is  necessarily  inferior  to  the  parents. 

A  careful  consideration  of  the  subject  brings  us  to 
the  following  conclusions,  viz : 

That  in  general  practice,  with  the  grades  and  mixed 
animals  common  in  the  country,  dose  breeding  should  he 
scrupulously  avoided  as  highly  detrimental.  It  is  better 
always  to  avoid  breeding  from  near  affinities  whenever 
stock-getters  of  the  same  breed  and  of  equal  merit  can 
be  obtained  which  are  not  related.  Yet,  where  this  is 
not  possible,  or  where  there  is  some  desirable  and 
clearly  defined  purpose  in  view,  as  the  fixing  and  per- 
petuating of  some  valuable  quality  in  a  particular  animal 
not  common  to  the  breed,  and  the  breeder  possesses 
the  knowledge  and  skill  needful  to  accomplish  his  pur- 
pose, and  the  animals  are  perfect  in  health  and  develop- 
ment, close  breeding  may  be  practiced  with  advantage. 


CROSSING.  1Q5 


CHAPTER    YIII. 

Crossixg. 

The  practice  of  crossing,  like  that  of  close  breeding, 
has  its  strong  and  its  weak  side.  Substantial  argu- 
ments can  be  brought  both  in  its  favor  and  against  it. 
Judiciously  practiced,  it  offers  a  means  of  procuring 
animals  for  the  hutcJier,  often  superior  to  and  more 
profitable  than  those  of  any  pure  breed.  It  is  also  ad- 
missible as  the  foundation  of  a  systematic  and  well 
considered  attempt  to  establish  a  new  breed.  Such 
attempts,  however,  as  they  necessarily  involve  consid- 
erable expense,  and  efforts  continued  during  a  long 
term  of  years,  will  be  rarely  made.  But  when  crossing 
is  practiced  injudiciously  and  indiscriminately,  and 
especially  when  so  done  for  the  purpose  of  procuring 
breeding  animals,  it  cannot  be  too  severely  censured, 
and  is  scarcely  less  objectionable  than  careless  in-and-in 
breeding. 

The  following  remarks,  from  the  pen  of  W.  C.  Spoon- 
er,  V.  S.,  are  introduced  as  sound  and  reliable,  and  as 
comprising  nearly  all  which  need  be  said  on  the  subject 


106  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


of  crossing  breeds  possessing  distinctive  characteris- 
tics : 

"  Crossing  is  generally  understood  to  refer  to  the 
alliance  of  animals  of  different  breeds,  such  as  between 
a  thorough-bred  and  a  half-bred  among  horses  or  a 
South  Down  and  Leicester  among  sheep.  Now  the 
advantages  or  disadvantages  of  this  system  depend 
entirely  on  the  object  we  have  in  view,  whether  merely 
to  beget  an  animal  for  the  butcher,  or  for  the  purpose 
of  perpetuating  the  species.  If  the  latter  is  the  object, 
then  crossing  should  be  adopted  gradually  and  with 
care,  and  by  no  means  between  distant  or  antagonistic 
qualities,  as  for  example  a  thorough-bred  and  a  cart- 
horse. The  result  of  the  latter  connection  is  generally 
an  ill-assorted  and  unfavorable  animal,  too  heavy  per- 
haps for  one  purpose,  and  too  light  for  another.  If  we 
wish  to  instil  more  activity  into  the  cart-horse  breed,  it 
is  better  to  do  so  by  means  of  some  half-bred  animal, 
whilst  the  latter  can  be  improved  by  means  of  the  three- 
parts-bred  horse  and  this  again  by  the  thorough-bred. 
There  is  a  remarkable  tendency,  in  breeding,  for  both 
good  qualities  and  bad  to  disappear  for  one  or  two  gen- 
erations, and  to  reappear  in  the  second  and  third  ;  thus 
an  animal  often  resembles  the  grand  dam  mere  than  the 
dam.  This  peculiarity  is  itself  an  objection  to  the  prac- 
tice of  crossing,  as  it  tends  to  prevent  uniformity  and 
to  encourage  contrarieties  ;  and  thus  we  find  in  many 
flocks  and  herds  that  the  hopes  of  the  breeders  have 
been  entirely  bafiled  and  a  race  of  mongrels  estab- 
lished. 


CROSSING.  107 


The  first  cross  is  generally  successful — a  tolerable 
degree  of  uniformity  is  produced,  resembling  in  external 
conformation  the  sire,  which  is  usuall}^  of  a  superior 
breed ;  and  thus  the  offspring  are  superior  to  the  dams. 
These  cross-bred  animals  are  now  paired  amongst  each 
other,  and  what  is  the  consequence  ?  Uniformity  at 
once  disappears ;  some  of  the  offspring  resemble  the 
grandsire,  and  others  the  grajidams,  and  some  possess 
the  disposition  and  constitution  of  the  one  and  some  of 
the  other  ;  and  consequently  a  race  of  mongrels  is  per- 
petuated. If,  however,  the  cross  is  really  a  good  and 
desirable  one,  then,  by  means  of  rigorous  and  continued 
selection,  pursued  for  several  generations,  that  is,  by 
casting  aside,  as  regards  breeding  purposes,  every  ani- 
mal that  does  not  exhibit  uniformity,  or  possess  the 
qualifications  we  are  desirous  of  perpetuating,  a  valua- 
ble breed  of  animals  may  in  the  course  of  time  be 
established.  By  this  system  many  varieties  of  sheep 
have  been  so  far  improved  as  to  become  almost  new 
breeds ;  as  for  instance  the  Xew  Oxford  Downs  which 
have  frequently  gained  prizes  at  the  great  Agricultural 
Meetings  as  being  the  best  long  wooled  sheef). 

To  cross,  however,  merely  for  crossing  sake — to  do 
so  without  that  care  ind  vigilance  which  we  have 
deemed  so  essential — is  a  practice  which  cannot  be  too 
much  condemned.  It  is  in  fact  a  national  evil  and  a 
sin  against  society,  that  is,  if  carried  beyond  the  first 
cross,  or  if  the  cross-bred  animals  are  used  for  breeding. 
A  useful  breed  of  animals  may  thus  be  lost,  and  a  gen- 
eration of  mongrels  established  in  their  place,  a  result 

10* 


108  PRINCIPLES  OF   BREEDING. 


which  has  followed   in  nuuierous   instances   amongst 
every  breed  of  animals. 

The  principal  use  of  crossing,  however,  is  to  raise 
animals  for  the  butcher.  In  this  respect  it  has  not 
(with  sheep)  been  adopted  to  the  extent  which  it  might 
to  advantage.  The  male  being  generally  an  animal  of 
a  superior  breed  and  of  a  vigorous  nature,  almost  inva- 
riably stamps  his  external  form,  size  and  muscular 
development  on  the  offspring,  which  thus  bear  a  strong 
resemblance  to  him,  whilst  their  internal  nature  derived 
from  the  dam,  well  adapts  them  to  the  locality,  as  well 
as  to  the  treatment  to  which  their  dams  have  been 
accustomed. 

With  regard  to  cattle,  the  system  cannot  be  so  advan- 
tageously pursued  (except  for  the  purpose  of  improving 
the  size  and  qualities  of  the  calf,  where  veal  is  the 
object)  in  as  much  as  every  required  qualification  for 
breeding  purposes  can  be  obtained  by  using  animals  of 
the  pure  breeds.  But  with  sheep,  where  the  peculiari- 
ties of  the  soil  as  regards  the  goodness  of  feed,  and 
exposure  to  the  severities  of  the  weather,  often  prevent 
the  introduction  of  an  improved  breed,  the  value  of 
using  a  new  and  superior  ram  is  often  very  considera- 
ble, and  the  weight  of  mutton  is  materially  increased, 
without  its  quality  being  impaired,  while  earlier  matu- 
rity is  at  the  same  time  obtained.  It  involves,  how- 
ever, more  systematic  attention  than  farmers  usually 
like  to  bestow,  for  it  is  necessary  to  employ  a  different 
ram  for  each  purpose ;  that  is,  a  native  ram  for  a  por- 
tion of  the  ewes  to  keep  up  the  purity  of  the  breed,  and 


CROSSING.  109 


a  foreign  ram  to  raise  the  improved  cross-bred  animals 
for  fatting  either  as  lambs  or  sheep.  This  plan  is 
adopted  by  many  breeders  of  Leicester  sheep,  who  thus 
employ  South  Down  rams  to  improve  the  quality  of 
the  mutton.  One  inconvenience  attending  this  plan,  is 
the  necessity  of  fatting  the  maiden  ewes  as  well  as  the 
wethers  ;  they  may  however  be  disposed  of  as  fat  lambs, 
or  the  practice  of  spaying  might  be  adopted,  so  as  to 
increase  the  fatting  disposition  of  the  animal.  Cross- 
ing, therefore,  should  be  adopted  with  the  greatest 
caution  and  skill  where  the  object  is  to  improve  the  breed 
of  animals  ;  it  should  never  be  practiced  carelessly  or 
capriciously,  but  it  may  be  advantageously  pursued 
with  a  view  to  raising  superior  and  profitable  animals 
for  the  butcher.'' 

In  another  paper  on  this  subject,  after  presenting 
many  interesting  details  regarding  British  breeds  of 
sheep  and  the  results  of  crossing,  Mr.  Spooner  says  : 

"  We  cannot  do  better,  in  concluding  our  paper,  than 
gather  up  and  arrange  in  a  collected  form,  the  various 
points  of  our  subject,  which  appear  to  be  of  suflScient 
importance  to  be  again  presented  to  the  attention  of 
our  readers.  We  think,  therefore,  we  are  justified  in 
coming  to  the  conclusions  : 

1st.  That  there  is  a  direct  pecuniary  advantage  in 
judicious  cross-breeding ;  that  increased  size,  disposi- 
tion to  fatten,  and  early  maturity,  are  thereby  induced. 

2d.  That  while  this  may  be  caused  for  the  most  part, 
by  the  very  fact  of  crossing,  yet  it  is  principally  due  to 


110  PRINCIPLES  OF   BREEDING. 


the  superior  influence  of  the  male  over  the  size  and 
external  appearance. of  the  offspring;  so  that  it  is  de- 
sirable, for  the  purpose  of  the  butcher,  that  the  male 
should  be  of  a  larger  frame  than  the  female,  and  should 
excel  in  those  peculiarities  we  are  desirous  of  repro- 
ducing. Let  it  be  here  however,  repeated,  as  an  ex- 
ceptional truth,  that  though  as  a  rule  the  male  parent 
influences  mostly  the  size  and  external  form,  and  the 
female  parent  the  constitution,  general  health  and  vital 
powers,  yet  that  the  opposite  result  sometimes  takes 
place. 

3d.  Certain  peculiarities  may  be  imparted  to  a  breed 
by  a  single  cross.  Thus,  the  ponies  of  the  New  Forest 
exhibit  characteristics  of  blood,  although  it  is  many 
years  since  that  a  thorough-bred  horse  was  turned  into 
the  forest  for  the  purpose.  So,  likewise,  we  observe  in 
the  Hampshire  sheep  the  Roman  nose  and  large  heads, 
which  formed  so  strong  a  feature  in  their  maternal 
ancestors,  although  successive  crosses  of  the  South 
Down  were  employed  to  change  the  character  of  the 
breed.  *  *  * 

4th.  Although  in  the  crossing  of  sheep  for  the  pur- 
pose of  the  butcher,  it  is  generally  advisable  to  use 
males  of  a  larger  breed,  provided  they  possess  a  dispo- 
sition to  fatten  ;  yet,  in  such  cases,  it  is  of  importance 
that  the  pelvis  of  the  female  should  be  wide  and  capa- 
cious, so  that  no  injury  should  arise  in  lambing,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  increased  size  of  the  heads  of  the  lambs. 
The  shape  of  the  ram's  head  should  be  studied  for  the 
same  reason.     In  crossing,  however,  for  the  purpose  of 


CROSSING.  Ill 


establishing  a  new  breed,  the  size  of  the  male  must  give 
way  to  other  more  important  considerations  ;  although 
it  will  still  be  desirable  to  use  a  large  female  of  the 
breed  which  we  seek  to  improve.  Thus  the  South 
Downs  have  vastly  improved  the  larger  Hampshires, 
and  the  Leicester  the  huge  Lincolns  and  the  Cotswolds. 

5th.  Although  the  benefits  are  most  evident  in  the 
first  cross,  after  which,  from  pairing  the  cross-bred 
animals,  the  defects  of  one  breed  or  the  other,  or  the 
incongruities  of  both,  are  perpetually  breaking  out — 
yet,  unless  the  characteristics  and  conformation  of  the 
two  breeds  are  altogether  averse  to  each  other,  nature 
opposes  no  barrier  to  their  successful  admixture  ;  so 
that  in  the  course  of  time,  by  the  aid  of  selection  and 
careful  weeding,  it  is  practicable  to  establish  a  new 
breed  altogether.  This,  in  fact,  has  been  the  history 
of  our  principal  breeds.  *  *  * 

We  confess  that  we  cannot  entirel}"  admit  either  of 
the  antagonistic  doctrines  held  by  the  rival  advocates 
of  crossing  and  pure  breeding.  The  public  have  reason 
to  be  grateful  to  the  exertions  of  either  part}^ ;  and  still 
more  have  they  respectively  reason  to  be  grateful  to 
each  other.  >^  ^  *  * 

Let  us  conclude  by  repeating  the  advice  that,  when 
equal  advantages  can  be  attained  by  keeping  a  pure 
breed  of  sheep,  such  pure  breed  should  unquestionably 
be  preferred;  and  that,  although  crossing  for  the  pur- 
pose of  the  butcher  may  be  practiced  with  impunity, 
and  even  with  advantage,  yet  no  one  should  do  so  for 
the  purpose  of  establishing  a  new  breed,  unless  he  has 
clear  and  well  defined  views  of  the  object  he  seeks  to 


112  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


accomplish,  and  has  duly  studied  the  principles  on 
which  it  can  be  carried  out,  and  is  determined  to  be- 
stow for  the  space  of  half  a  life-time  his  constant  and 
unremitting  attention  to  the  discovery  and  removal  of 
defects.'^ 

The  term  crossing  is  sometimes  used  in  a  much  more 
restricted  sense,  as  in  the  remark  of  Mr.  Boswell  in  his 
essay  quoted  on  page  69  where  he  says,  ''When  I  praise 
the  advantage  of  crossing  I  would  have  it  clearly  under- 
stood that  it  is  only  to  bring  together  animals  not  nearly 
related  but  always  of  the  same  breed.^'  It  is  evident 
that  snch  crossing  as  this  is  wholly  unobjectionable  ; 
no  one  but  an  avowed  and  ultra  advocate  of  close 
breeding  couM  possiblj^  find  any  fault  with  it. 

There  is  yet  another  style  of  crossing  which  when 
practicable,  may,  it  is  believed,  be  made  a  means  to  the 
highest  degree  of  improvement  attainable,  and  especial- 
ly in  the  breeding  of  horses.  The  word  "  breed ''  is  oft- 
en used  with  varying  signification.  In  order  to  be 
understood,  let  me  premise  that  I  use  it  here  simply  to 
designate  a  class  of  animals  possessing  a  good  degree 
of  uniformity  growing  out  of  the  fact  of  a  common 
origin  and  of  their  having  been  reared  under  similar 
conditions.  The  method  proposed  is  to  unite  animals 
possessing  similarity  of  desirable  characteristics,  loith 
difference  of  breed ;  that  is  to  say,  difference  of  breed 
in  the  sense  just  specified.     From  unions  based  upon 


CROSSING.  113 


this  principle,  the  selections  being  guided  by  a  skillful 
judgment  and  a  discriminating  tact,  we  may  expect 
progeny  possessing  not  only  a  fitting  and  symmetrical 
development  of  the  locomotive  system,  but  also  an 
amount  and  intensity  of  nervous  energy  and  power  un- 
attainable by  any  other  method. 

Such  was  in  all  probability  the  origin  of  the  cele- 
brated horse  Justin  Morgan ;  an  animal  which  not 
only  did  more  to  stamp  excellence  and  impart  value  to 
the  roadsters  of  New  England  than  any  other,  but  was 
the  originator  of  the  only  distinct,  indigenous  breed  of 
animals  of  which  America  can  boast ; — a  breed  which 
as  fast  and  durable  road  horses  and  for  any  light  har- 
ness work,  is  not  equalled  by  any  other,  any  where.  In 
the  present  state  of  our  knowledge  it  is  scarcely  con- 
ceivable how  an  animal  possessing  the  endowments  of 
Justin  Morgan  could  have  originated  in  any  other  way 
than  from  such  a  parentage  as  above  indicated.  On  the 
other  hand  it  is  very  certain  that  conti^ast  in  character, 
as  well  as  in  breed,  has  occasioned  much  of  the  disap- 
pointment of  which  breeders  have  had  occasion  to  com- 
plain. 

The  principle  here  laid  down  is  one  of  broad  appli- 
cation, and  should  never  be  lost  sight  of  in  attempts 
at  improvement  by  crossing.  Another  point  worthy 
special  attention  is  that  all  crossing,  to  insure  success- 


114  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


ful  results,  should  be  gentle  rather  than  violent ;  that  is, 
never  couple  animals  possessing  marked  dissimilarity, 
but  endeavor  to  remedy  faults  and  to  effect  improve- 
ment by  gradual  approaches.  Harmony  of  structure 
and  a  proper  balancing  of  desirable  characteristics,  "  an 
equilibrium  of  good  qualities,''  as  it  has  been  happily 
expressed,  can  be  secured  only  in  this  way. 

It  may  not  be  out  of  place  here  to  say,  that  much 
of  the  talk  about  blood  in  animals,  especially  horses,  is 
sheer  nonsense.  When  a  ''blood  horse"  is  spoken  of, 
it  means,  so  far  as  it  means  any  thing,  that  his  pedigree 
can  be  traced  to  Arabian  or  Barbary  origin,  and  so  is 
possessed  of  the  peculiar  type  of  structure  and  great 
nervous  energy  which  usually  attaches  to  ''thorough- 
bred" horses.  When  a  bull,  or  cow,  or  sheep  is  said 
to  be  of  "pure  blood,"  it  means  simply  that  the  animal 
is  of  some  distinct  variety — that  it  has  been  bred  from 
an  ancestry  all  of  which  were  marked  by  the  same 
peculiarities  and  characteristics. 

So  long  as  the  term  "blood"  is  used  to  convey  the 
idea  of  definite  hereditary  qualities  it  may  not  be  objec- 
tionable. We  frequently  use  expressions  which  are 
not  strictly  accurate,  as  when  we  speak  of  the  sun's 
rising  and  setting,  and  so  long  as  every  body  knows 
that  we  refer  to  apparent  position  and  not  to  any  mo- 
tion of  the  sun,  no  false  ideas  are  conveyed.     But  to 


CROSSING.  115 


suppose  that  the  hereditary  qualities  of  an  animal  attach 
to  the  blood  more  than  to  any  other  fluid  or  to  any 
of  the  tissues  of  the  body,  or  that  the  blood  of  a  high- 
bred horse  is  essentially  different  from  that  of  another, 
is  entirely  erroneous.  The  qualities  of  an  animal  de- 
pend ujDon  its  organization  and  endowments,  and  the 
blood  is  only  the  vehicle  by  which  these  are  nourished 
and  sustained  ; — moreover  the  blood  varies  in  quality, 
composition  and  amount,  according  to  the  food  eaten, 
the  air  breathed  and  the  exercise  taken.  If  one  horse 
is  better  than  another  it  is  not  because  the  fluid  in  his 
veins  is  of  superior  quality,  but  rather  because  his 
structure  is  more  perfect  mechanically,  and  because 
nervous  energy  is  present  in  fitting  amount  and  in- 
tensity. 

For  illustration,  take  two  horses — one  so  built  and 
endowed  that  he  can  draw  two  tons  or  more,  three  miles 
in  an  hour ;  the  other  so  that  he  can  trot  a  mile  in  three 
minutes  or  less.  Let  us  suppose  the  blood  coursing  in 
the  veins  of  each  to  be  transferred  to  the  other  ;  would 
the  draft  horse  acquire  speed  thereby,  or  the  trotter 
acquire  power  ?  Just  as  much  and  no  more  as  if  you 
fed  each  for  a  month  with  the  hay,  oats  and  water  in- 
tended for  the  other. 

It  is  well  to  attend  to  pedigree,  for  thus  only  can  we 

know  what  are  the  hereditary  qualities,  but  it  is  not 
11 


IIQ  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


well  to  lay  too  much  stress  upon  ''blood."  What 
matters  it  that  my  horse  was  sired  by  such  a  one  or 
such  a  one,  if  he  be  himself  defective  ?  In  breeding 
horses,  structure  is  first,  and  endowment  with  nervous 
energy  is  next  to  be  seen  to,  and  then  pedigree — after- 
wards that  these  be  fittingly  united,  by  proper  selection 
for  coupling,  in  order  to  secure  the  highest  degree  of 
probability  which  the  nature  of  the  case  admits,  that 
the  ofispring  may  prove  a  perfect  machine  and  be  suit- 
ably endowed  with  motive  power. 

"  The  body  of  an  animal  is  a  piece  of  mechanism,  the 
moving  power  of  which  is  the  vital  principle,  which 
like  fire  to  the  steam  engine  sets  the  whole  in  motion  ; 
but  whatever  quantity  of  fire  or  vital  energy  may  be 
applied,  neither  the  animal  machine  nor  the  engine  will 
work  with  regularity  and  elfect,  unless  the  individual 
23arts  of  which  the  machine  is  composed  are  properly 
adjusted  and  fitted  for  the  purposes  for  which  they  are 
intended ;  or  if  it  is  found  that  the  machine  does  move 
by  the  increase  of  moving  power,  still  the  motion  is 
irregular  and  imperfect ;  the  bolts  and  joints  are  con- 
tinually giving  way,  there  is  a  continued  straining  of 
the  various  parts,  and  the  machine  becomes  worn  out 
and  useless  in  half  the  time  it  might  have  lasted  if  the 
proportions  had  been  just  and  accurate.  Such  is  the 
case  with  the  animal  machine.     It  is  not  enough  that  it 


CROSSIXG.  1X7 


is  put  in  motion  by  the  noblest  spirit  or  that  it  is  nour- 
ished by  the  highest  blood  ;  every  bone  must  have  its 
just  proportion ;  every  muscle  or  tendon  its  proper 
pulley ;  every  lever  its  proper  length  and  fulcrum  ; 
every  joint  its  most  accurate  adjustment  and  proper 
lubrication  ;  all  must  have  their  relative  proportions 
and  strength,  before  the  motions  of  the  machine  can  be 
accurate,  vigorous  and  durable.  In  every  machine 
modifications  are  required  according  as  the  purposes 
vary  to  which  it  is  applied.  The  heavy  dray  horse  is 
far  from  having  the  arrangement  necessary  for  the  pur- 
poses of  the  turf,  while  the  thorough-bred  is  as  ill 
adapted  for  the  dray.  Animals  are  therefore  to  be 
selected  for  the  individual  purposes  for  which  they  are 
intended,  with  the  modifications  of  form  proper  for  the 
difierent  uses  to  which  they  are  to  be  applied  ;  but  for 
whatever  purpose  they  may  be  intended,  there  are  some 
points  which  are  common  to  all,  in  the  adjustment  of 
the  individual  parts.  If  the  bones  want  their  due 
proportions,  or  are  imperfectly  placed — if  the  muscles 
or  tendons  want  their  proper  levers — if  the  flexions  of 
the  joints  be  interrupted  by  the  defectiveness  of  their 
mechanism,  the  animal  must  either  be  defective  in  mo- 
tion or  strength ;  the  bones  have  irregular  pressure,  and 
if  they  do  not  break,  become  diseased ;  if  the  muscles 
or  tendons  do  not  become  sprained  or  ruptured,  they 


118  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


are  defective  in  tlieir  action  ;  if  friction  or  inflammation 
does  not  take  place  in  the  joints,  the  motions  are  awk- 
ward and  grotesque.  As  in  every  other  machine,  the 
beauty  of  the  animate,  whether  in  motion  or  at  rest,  de- 
pends upon  the  arrangement  of  the  individual  parts." 


BREEDING  IN  THE  LINE.  H^ 


CHAPTER    IX. 

Breeding   ix  the   Line. 

The  preferable  style  of  breeding  for  the  great  majori- 
ty of  farmers  to  adopt,  is  neither  to  cross,  nor  to  breed 
from  close  afiSnities,  (except  in  rare  instances  and  for 
some  specific  and  clearly  understood  purpose,)  but  to 
breed  in  the  line,  that  is,  select  the  breed  or  race  best 
adapted  to  fulfill  the  requirements  demanded,  whether 
it  be  for  the  dairy,  for  labor  or  for  beef  in  cattle,  or  for 
such  combination  of  these  as  can  be  had  without  too 
great  sacrifice  of  the  principal  requisite  ;  whether  for 
fine  wool  as  a  primary  object  and  for  meat  as  a  sec- 
ondary one,  or  for  mutton  as  a  primary  and  wool  for  a 
secondary  object,  and  then  procure  a  i^ui^e  bred  male  of 
the  kind  determined  on,  and  breed  him  to  the  females 
of  the  herd  or  of  the  flock  ;  and  if  these  be  not  such  as 
are  calculated  to  develop  his  qualities,  endeavor  by 
purchase  or  exchange  to  procure  such  as  will.  Let  the 
progeny  of  these  be  bred  to  another  pure  bred  male  of 
the  same  breed,  but  as  distantly  related  to  the  first  as 
may  be.  Let  this  plan  be  steadily  pursued,  and  al- 
though we  cannot,  without  the  intervention  of  well  bred 
11* 


120  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


females,  obtain  stock  purely  of  kind  desired,  yet  in 
several  generations,  if  proper  care  be  given  in  the  selec- 
tion of  males,  that  each  one  be  such  as  to  retain  and 
improve  upon  the  points  gained  by  his  predecessor,  the 
stock  for  most  practical  purposes  will  be  as  good  as  if 
thorough-bred.  Were  this  plan  generally  adopted,  and 
a  system  of  letting  or  exchange  of  males  established, 
the  cost  might  be  brought  within  the  means  of  most 
persons,  and  the  advantages  which  would  accrue  would 
be  almost  beyond  belief 

The  writer  on  Cattle  in  the  Library  of  Useful  Knowl- 
edge well  remarks  : — "  At  the  outset  of  his  career,  the 
farmer  should  have  a  clear  and  determined  conception 
of  the  object  that  he  wishes  to  accomplish.  He  should 
consider  the  nature  of  his  farm  ;  the  quality,  abundance 
or  deficiency  of  his  pasturage,  the  character  of  the  soil, 
the  seasons  of  the  year  when  he  will  have  jDlenty  or 
deficiency  of  food,  the  locality  of  his  farm,  the  market 
to  which  he  has  access  and  the  produce  which  can  be 
disposed  of  with  greatest  profit,  and  these  things  will 
at  once  point  to  him  the  breed  he  should  be  solicitous 
to  obtain.  The  man  of  wealth  and  patriotism  may  have 
more  extensive  views,  and  nobly  look  to  the  general 
improvement  of  cattle ;  but  the  farmer,  with  his  limited 
means  and  with  the  claims  that  press  upon  him,  regards 
his  cattle  as  a  valuable  portion  of  his  own  little  prop- 


breedixCt  in  the  LIXE.  121 


erty,  and  on  which  every  thing  should  appear  to  be  in 
natural  keeping-,  and  be  turned  to  the  best  advantage. 
The  best  beast  for  him  is  that  which  suits  his  farm  the 
best,  and  with  a  view  to  this,  he  studies,  or  ought  to 
study,  the  points  and  qualities  of  his  own  cattle,  and 
those  of  others.  The  dairyman  will  regard  the  quantity 
of  milk — the  quality — its  value  for  the  production  of 
butter  and  cheese — the  time  that  the  cow  continues  in 
milk — the  character  of  the  breed  for  quietness,  or  as 
being  good  nurses — the  predisposition  to  garget  or 
other  disease,  or  dropping  after  calving — the  natural 
tendency  to  turn  every  thing  to  nutriment — the  ease 
with  which  she  is  fattened  when  given  up  as  a  milker, 
and  the  proportion  of  food  requisite  to  keep  her  in  full 
milk  or  to  fatten  her  when  dry.  The  grazier  will  con- 
sider the  kind  of  beast  which  his  land  will  bear — the 
kind  of  meat  most  in  demand  in  his  neighborhood — the 
early  maturity — the  quickness  of  fattening  at  any  age — 
the  quality  of  the  meat — the  parts  on  which  the  flesh 
and  fat  are  principally  laid — and  more  than  all  the 
hardihood  and  the  adaptation  to  the  climate  and  soil. 

in  order  to  obtain  these  valuable  properties  the  good 
farmer  "will  make  himself  perfectly  master  of  the  char- 
acters and  qualities  of  his  own  stock.  He  will  trace 
the  connection  of  certain  good  qualities  and  certain  bad 
ones,  with  an  almost  invariable  peculiarity  of  shape  and 


122  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


structure  ;  and  at  length  he  will  arrive  at  a  clear  con- 
ception, not  so  much  of  beauty  of  form  (although  that 
is  a  pleasing  object  to  contemplate)  as  of  that  outline 
and  proportion  of  parts  with  which  utility  is  oftenest 
combined.  Then  carefully  viewing  his  stock  he  will 
consider  where  they  approach  to,  and  how  far  they 
wander  from,  this  utility  of  form  ;  and  he  will  be  anx- 
ious to  preserve  or  to  increase  the  one  and  to  supply 
the  deficiency  of  the  other.  He  will  endeavor  to  select 
from  his  own  stock  those  animals  that  excel  in  the  most 
valuable  points,  and  particularly  those  which  possess 
the  greatest  number  of  these  points,  and  he  will  un- 
hesitatingly condemn  every  beast  that  manifests  defi- 
ciency in  any  one  important  point.  He  will  not,  how- 
ever, too  long  confine  himself  to  his  own  stock,  unless 
it  be  a  very  numerous  one.  The  breeding  from  close 
affinities  has  many  advantages  to  a  certain  extent.  It 
was  the  source  whence  sprung  the  cattle  and  sheep  of 
Bakewell  and  the  superior  cattle  of  Colling ;  and  to  it 
must  also  be  traced  the  speedy  degeneracy,  the  abso- 
lute disappearance  of  the  New  Leicester  cattle,  and,  in 
the  hands  of  many  agriculturists,  the  impairment  of 
constitution  and  decreased  value  of  the  New  Leicester 
sheep  and  of  the  Short-horns.  He  will  therefore  seek 
some  change  in  his  stock  exevj  second  or  third  year, 
and  that  change   is  most  conveniently  effected  by  in- 


BREEDING  IN  THE  LINE.  123 


troducing  a  new  bull.  This  bull  should  be  of  the  same 
breed,  and  pure,  coming  from  a  similar  pasturage  and 
climate,  but  possessing  no  relationship — or,  at  most,  a 
very  distant  one — to  the  stock  to  which  he  is  intro- 
duced. He  should  bring  with  him  every  good  point 
which  the  breeder  has  labored  to  produce  in  his  stock, 
and  if  possible,  some  improvement,  and  especially  in  the 
points  where  the  old  stock  may  have  been  somewhat 
deficient,  and  most  certainly  he  should  have  no  manifest 
defect  of  form ;  and  that  most  essential  of  all  qualifica- 
tions, a  hardy  constitution,  should  not  be  wanting. 

There  is  one  circumstance,  however,  which  the 
breeder  occasionally  forgets,  but  which  is  of  as  much 
importance  to  the  permanent  value  of  his  stock  as  any 
careful  selection  of  animals  can  be — and  that  is,  good 
keeping.  It  has  been  well  said  that  'all  good  stock 
must  be  both  bred  with  attention  and  well  fed.  It  is 
necessary  that  these  two  essentials  in  this  species  of 
improvement  should  always  accompany  each  other ; 
for  without  good  resources  of  keeping,  it  would  be  vain 
to  attempt  supporting  a  valuable  stock.'  This  is  true 
with  regard  to  the  original  stock.  It  is  yet  more  evi- 
dent when  animals  are  absurdly  brought  from  a  better 
to  a  poorer  soil.  The  original  stock  will  deteriorate  if 
neglected  and  half-starved,  and  the  improved  breed  will 
lose  ground  even  more  rapidly,  and  to  a  far  greater 
extent." 


124  PRINCIPLES  OF  BPvEEDING. 


A  very  brief  resume  of  the  preceding  remarks  may 
be  expressed  as  follows  : 

The  Law  of  Similarity  teaches  us  to  select  animals 
for  breeding  which  possess  the  desired  forms  and  qual- 
ities in  the  greatest  perfection  and  best  combination. 

Regard  should  be  had  not  only  to  the  more  obvious 
characteristics,  but  also  to  such  hereditary  traits  and 
tendencies  as  may  be  hidden  from  cursory  observation 
and  demand  careful  and  thorough  investigation. 

From  the  hereditary  nature  of  all  characteristics, 
whether  good  or  bad,  we  learn  the  importance  of  hav- 
ing all  desirable  qualities  and  properties  thoroughly 
inbred ;  or,  in  other  words,  so  fijmly  fixed  in  each  gen- 
eration, that  the  next  is  warrantably  certain  to  present 
nothing  worse, — that  no  ill  results  follow  from  breeding 
back  towards  some  inferior  ancestor, — that  all  undesir- 
able traits  or  points  be,  so  far  as  possible,  bred  out. 

So  important  is  this  consideration,  that  in  practice,  it 
is  decidedly  preferable  to  employ  a  male  of  ordinary 
external  appearance,  provided  his  ancestry  be  all  which 
is  desired,  rather  than  a  grade  or  cross-bred  animal, 
although  the  latter  be  greatly  his  superior  in  personal 
beauty. 

A  knowledge  of  the  Law  of  Divergence  teaches  us 
to  avoid,  for  breeding  purposes,  such  animals  as  exhibit 
variations  unfavorable  to  the  purpose  in  view  ;  and  to 
endeavor  to  perpetuate  every  real  improvement  gained  ; 


RESUME.  125 


also  to  secure  as  far  as  practicable,  tlie  conditions  neces- 
sary to  induce  or  to  perpetuate  any  improvement,  such 
as  general  treatment,  food,  climate,  habit,  &c. 

AVhere  the  parents  do  not  possess  the  perfection 
desired,  selections  for  coupling  should  be  made  with 
critical  reference  to  correcting  the  faults  or  deficiencies 
of  one  by  corresponding  excellence  in  the  other. 

But  to  correct  defects  too  much  must  not  be  at- 
tempted at  once.  Pairing  those  very  unlike,  oftener 
results  in  loss  than  in  gain.  Mating  a  horse  for  speed 
with  a  draft  mare,  will  more  likely  beget  progeny  good 
for  neither,  than  for  both.  Avoid  all  extremes,  and 
endeavor  by  moderate  degrees  to  obtain  the  object 
desired. 

Crossing,  between  different  breeds,  for  the  purpose 
of  obtaining  animals  for  the  shambles,  may  be  advan- 
tageously practiced  to  considerable  extent,  but  not  for 
the  production  of  breeding  animals.  As  a  general  rule 
cross-bred  males  should  not  be  employed  for  propa- 
gation, and  cross-bred  females  should  be  served  by 
thorough-bred  males. 

In  ordinary  practice,  breeding  from  near  relationships 
is  to  be  scrupulously  avoided;  for  certain  purposes,  un- 
der certain  conditions  and  circumstances,  and  in  the 
hands  of  a  skillful  breeder,  it  may  be  practiced  with 
advantage,  but  not  otherwise. 


12Q  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


In  a  large  majority  of  cases  (other  things  being 
equal)  we  may  expect  in  progeny  the  outward  form 
and  general  structure  of  the  sire,  together  with  the 
internal  qualities,  constitution  and  nutritive  system  of 
the  dam  ;  each,  however,  modified  by  the  other. 

Particular  care  should  always  be  taken  that  the  male 
by  which  the  dam  first  becomes  pregnant  is  the  best 
which  can  be  obtained ;  also,  that  at  the  time  of  sexual 
congress  both  are  in  vigorous  health. 

Breeding  animals  should  not  be  allowed  to  become 
fat,  but  always  kept  in  thrifty  condition ;  and  such  as 
are  intended  for  the  butcher  should  never  be  fat  but 
once. 

In  deciding  with  what  breeds  to  stock  a  farm,  en- 
deavor to  select  those  best  adapted  to  its  surface, 
climate,  and  degree  of  fertility  ;  also  with  reference  to 
probable  demand  and  proximity  to  markets. 

No  expense  incurred  in  procuring  choice  animals  for 
propagation,  or  any  amount  of  skill  in  breeding,  can 
supersede,  or  compensate  for,  a  lack  of  liberal  feeding 
and  good  treatment.  The  better  the  stock,  the  better 
care  they  deserve. 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  BREEDS.  127 


CHAPTEE    X. 

Characteristics  of  Various  Breeds. 

The  inquiry  is  frequently  made,  what  is  the  best 
breed  of  cattle,  sheep,  &c.,  for  general  use.  In  reply 
it  may  be  said  that  no  breed  can  by  any  possibility  ful- 
fill all  requirements  in  the  best  possible  manner ;  one 
is  better  for  meat  and  early  maturity,  another  for  milk, 
another  for  wool,  and  so  on.  Because  under  certain 
circumstances  it  may  be  necessary  or  advisable  for  a 
man  to  serve  as  his  own  builder,  tailor,  tanner  and 
blacksmith,  it  by  no  means  follows  that  all  which  is 
required  will  be  as  well,  or  as  easily  done,  as  by  a 
division  of  labor.  So  it  is  better  for  many  reasons,  and 
more  profit  can  be  made,  by  employing  difierent  breeds 
for  difierent  purposes,  than  by  using  one  for  all,  and 
towards  such  profitable  employment  we  should  con- 
stantly aim.  At  the  same  time  there  is  a  large  class 
of  farmers  so  situated  that  they  cannot  keep  distinct 
breeds,  and  yet  wish  to  employ  them  for  difierent  uses, 
and  whose  requirements  will  best  be  met  by  a  kind  of 
cattle,  which,  without  possessing  remarkable  excel- 
lence in  any  one  direction,  shall  be  suflQcieutly  hardy, 

12 


128  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


the  oxen  proving  docile  and  efficient  laborers  for  a 
while,  and  then  turn  quickly  into  good  beef  upon  such 
food  as  their  farms  will  produce,  the  cows  giving  a  fair 
quantity  and  quality  of  milk  for  the  needs  of  the  family 
and  perhaps  to  furnish  a  little  butter  and  cheese  for 
market. 

Before  proceeding  to  answer  the  inquiry  more  defi- 
nitely, it  may  be  well  to  remark  further,  that  among 
the  facts  of  experience  regarding  cattle,  sheep  and 
horses,  nothing  is  better  established  than  that  no  breed 
can  be  transferred  from  the  place  where  it  originated, 
and  to  which  it  was  suited,  to  another  of  unlike  surface, 
climate  and  fertility,  and  retain  equal  adaptation  to  its 
new  situation,  nor  can  it  continue  to  be  what  it  was 
before.  It  must  and  will  vary.  The  influence  of  cli- 
mate alone,  aside  from  food  and  other  agencies  in 
causing  variation,  is  so  great  that  the  utmost  skill  in 
breeding,  and  care  in  all  other  respects,  cannot  wholly 
control  its  modifying  effects. 

It  is  also  pretty  well  established  that  no  breed 
brought  in  from  abroad  can  be  fully  as  good,  other 
tilings  being  equal,  as  one  indigenous  to  the  locality,  or 
what  approximates  the  same  thing,  as  one,  which  by 
being  reared  through  repeated  generations  on  the  spot 
has  become  thoroughly  acclimated  ;  so  that  the  pre- 
sumption is  strongly  in  favor  of  natives. 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  BREEDS.  229 


When  we  look  about  us  however,  we  find,  if  we 
except  the  Morgan  horses,  nothing  which  deserves  the 
name  of  indigenous  breeds  or  races.  The  cattle  and 
sheep  known  as  "natives"  are  of  mixed  foreign  origin, 
and  have  been  bred  with  no  care  in  selection,  but 
crossed  in  every  possible  way.  They  possess  no 
fixed  hereditary  traits,  and  although  among  them  are 
many  of  very  respectable  qualities,  and  which  possess 
desirable  characteristics,  they  cannot  be  relied  upon  as 
breeders,  to  produce  j)rogeny  of  like  excellence.  Instead 
of  constancy,  there  is  continual  variation,  and  frequent 
''breeding  back,"  exhibiting  the  undesirable  traits  of 
inferior  ancestors.  That  a  breed  might  be  established 
from  them,  by  careful  selection  continued  during  re- 
peated generations,  aided  perhaps  by  judicious  crossing 
with  more  recent  importations,  fully  as  good  as  any 
now  existing,  is  not  to  be  doubted.  Very  probably,  a 
breed  for  dairy  purposes  might  be  thus  created  which 
should  excel  any  now  existing  in  Europe,  for  some  of 
our  so  called  native  cows,  carelessly  as  they  have  been 
bred,  are  not  surpassed  by  any  of  foreign  origin  upon 
which  great  care  has  been  expended.  To  accomplish 
this  is  an  object  vv^orthy  the  ambition  of  those  who 
possess  the  skill,  enthusiasm,  ample  means  and  indom- 
itable perseverance  requisite  to  success.  But  except 
the  single  attempt  of  Col.  Jaques,  of  the  Ten  Hills 


130  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


Farm,  to  establish  the  Creampot  breed,*  of  which,  as 
little  has  been  heard  since  his  death,  it  is  fair  to  pre- 
sume that  it  has  dropped  into  the  level  of  common 
grade  cattle,  no  systematic  and  continued  effort  has 
come  to  our  knowledge.  Consequently  such  as  may 
be  deemed  absolutely  the  best  is  a  thing  of  the  future ; 
they  do  not  yet  exist — and  there  is  no  probability  that 
the  desideratum  will  soon  be  attained.  We  Yankees 
are  an  impatient  people  ;  we  dislike  to  wait,  for  any 
thing,  or  to  invest  where  five,  ten,  twenty  or  fifty  years 
may  be  expected  to  elapse  before  satisfactorj^  dividends 
may  be  safely  anticipated. 

Still,  if  all  would  begin  to-day,  to  use  what  skill  and 
judgment  they  have,  or  can  acquire,  in  breeding  only 
from  the  best  of  such  as  they  have,  coupling  with  refer- 
ence to  their  peculiarities,  and  consigning  to  the  butcher 
as  fast  as  possible  every  inferior  animal,  and  if,  in  addi- 
tion, they  would  do  what  is  equally  necessary,  namely, 
improve  their  general  treatment  as  much  as  lies  in  their 
power,  there  would  result  an  immediate,  a  marked  and 
a  steadily  progressive  improvement  in  stock.  To  the 
acclimation  or  Americanization  already  acquired,  would 
be  added  increased  symmetry  of  form  and  greater  value 
in  many  other  respects.     This  is  within  the  power  of 

*  This  was  commenced  by  a  cross  of  Coelebs,  a  Short-horn  bull, 
upon  a  common  cow  of  remarkable  excellence. 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  BREEDS.  131 


every  man,  and  whatever  else  he  may  be  obhged  to 
leave  undone,  for  want  of  ability,  none  should  be  content 
to  fall  short  of  this.  Those  who  have  the  command  of 
ample  means  will  of  course  desire  that  improvement 
should  be  as  rapid  as  possible.  They  will  endeavor  at 
once  to  j^rocure  well  bred  animals,  or  in  other  words, 
such  as  already  possess  the  desired  qualities  so  thor- 
oughly inwrought  into  their  organization  that  they  can 
rely  with  a  good  degree  of  confidence  on  their  impart- 
ing them  to  their  progeny. 

It  may  be  well  to  allude  here  to  a  distinction  between 
breeds  and  races.  By  breeds,  are  understood  such  vari- 
eties as  were  originally  produced  by  a  cross  or  mixture, 
like  the  Leicester  sheep  for  example,  and  subsequently 
established  by  selecting  for  breeding  purposes  only  the 
best  specimens  and  rejecting  all  others.  In  process  of 
time  deviations  become  less  frequent  and  greater  uni- 
formity is  secured ;  but  there  remains  a  tendency, 
greater  or  less  in  proportion  to  the  time  which  elapses 
and  the  skill  employed  in  selection,  to  resolve  itself 
into  its  original  elements,  to  breed  back  toward  one  or 
other  of  the  kinds  of  which  it  was  at  first  composed. 

By  races,   are    understood    such    varieties    as   were 
moulded  to  their  peculiar  type  by  natural  causes,  with 
no  interference  of  man,  no  intermixture  of  other  varie- 
ties, and  have  continued  substantially  the  same  for  a 
12* 


132  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


period  beyond  which  the  memory  and  knowledge  of 
man  does  not  reach.  Such  are  the  North  Devon  cattle, 
and  it  is  fortunate  that  attention  was  drawn  to  the 
merits  of  this  variety  before  facilities  for  inter-communi- 
cation had  so  greatly  increased  as  of  late,  and  while 
yet  the  race  in  some  districts  remained  pure.  All  that 
breeders  have  done  to  better  it,  is  by  selections  and 
rejections  from  within  itself;  and  so,  much  improve- 
ment has  been  effected  without  any  adulteration.  Con- 
sequently we  may  anticipate  that  so  long  as  no  cross- 
ing takes  place,  there  will  be  little  variation. 

Among  the  established  breeds  of  cattle  the  Improved 
Short-horns  are  the  most  fashionable,  and  the  most 
widely  diffused  ;  and  where  the  fertility  of  the  soil,  and 
the  climate,  are  such  as  to  allow  the  development  of 
their  peculiar  excellencies,  they  occupy  the  highest 
rank  as  a  meat-producing  breed.  Their  beef  is  hardly 
equal  in  quality  to  that  of  the  Devons,  Herefords  or 
Scots,  the  fat  and  lean  being  not  so  well  mixed  together 
and  the  flesh  of  coarser  grain.  But  they  possess  a  re- 
markable tendency  to  lay  on  fat  and  flesh,  attaining 
greater  size  and  weight,  and  coming  earlier  to  maturity 
than  any  other  breed.  These  properties,  together  with 
their  symmetry  and  stately  beauty,  make  them  very 
popular  in  those  counties  of  England,  where  they  orig- 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  BREEDS.  I33 


inated,  and  wherever  else  they  have  been  carried,  pro- 
vided their  surroundings  are  such  as  to  meet  their 
wants.  In  the  rich  pastures  of  Kentuck}^  and  in  some 
other  parts  of  the  west,  they  seem  as  much  at  home  as 
on  the  banks  of  the  Tees,  and  are  highly  and  deservedly 
esteemed.  The  Short-horns  have  also  been  widely  and 
successfully  used  to  cross  with  most  other  breeds,  and 
with  inferior  mixed  cattle,  as  they  are  found  to  impress 
strongly  upon  them  their  own  characteristics. 

AYithout  entering  into  the  question  of  its  original 
composition,  or  of  its  antiquity,  regarding  both  of  which 
much  doubt  exists,  it  may  suffice  here  to  say,  that  about 
a  hundred  years  ago,  Charles  Colling  and  others  entered 
zealously  and  successfully  into  an  attempt  to  improve 
them  by  careful  breeding,  in  whose  hands  they  soon 
acquired  a  wide  spread  fame  and  brought  enormous 
prices ;  and  the  sums  realized  for  choice  specimens  of 
this  breed  from  that  time  to  the  present,  have  been 
greater  than  for  those  of  any  other.  Much  of  their 
early  notoriety  was  due  to  the  exhibition  of  an  ox  reared 
by  Charles  Colling  from  a  common  cow  by  his  famous 
bull  ''  Favorite,''  and  known  as  the  "  Durham"  ox,  and 
also  as  the  "  Ketton"  ox,  (both  which  names  have  since 
then  been  more  or  less  applied  to  the  breed,  but  which 
are  now  mostly  superceded  by  the  original  and  more 
appropriate   one  of  Short-horn,)  which   was  shown  in 


134  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


most  parts  of  England  and  Scotland  from  1801  to  1807, 
and  whose  live  weight  was  nearly  four  thousand  pounds, 
and  which  was  at  one  time  valued  for  purposes  of  ex- 
hibition as  high  as  $10,000. 

The  old  Teeswater  cattle  were  remarkably  deep 
milkers,  and  although  it  does  not  appear  that  good 
/grazing  points  necessarily  conflict  with  excellence  for 
the  dairy,  the  fact  is,  that  as  improvement  in  feeding 
qualities  was  gained,  the  production  of  milk  in  most 
cases  fell  off;  and  although  some  families  at  the  present 
time  embrace  many  excellent  milkers,  the  majority  of 
them  have  deteriorated  in  this  respect  about  in  pro- 
portion to  the  improvement  effected  as  meat-producing 
animals.  The  earlier  Short-horns  introduced  into  this 
country  were  from  the  very  best  milking  families,  and 
their  descendants  have  usually  proved  valuable  for 
dairy  purposes — but  many  of  those  more  recently  im- 
ported are  unlike  them  in  this  respect.  By  cross- 
ing the  males  upon  the  common  cows  of  the  country 
the  progeny  inherited  increased  size  and  symmetry  of 
form,  more  quiet  dispositions,  greater  aptitude  to  feed 
and  earlier  maturity.  Notwithstanding  the  prejudices 
with  which  they  were  at  first  received,  they  gradually 
rose  in  estimation,  more  of  them  have  been  introduced 
than  of  any  other  breed,  and  probably  more  of  the  im- 
provement which  has  taken  place  in  cattle  for  the  last 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  BREEDS.  135 


forty  years  is  due  to  them  than  to  any  other  ;  yet  as  a 
pure  breed  they  are  not  adapted  to  New  England  ivants. 
Their  size  is  beyond  the  ability  of  most  farms  to  sup- 
port profitably :  crossed  upon  such  as  through  neglect 
in  breeding,  scanty  fare  and  exposure  were  bad  feeders, 
too  small  in  size,  and  too  slow  in  growth,  they  effected 
great  improvement  in  all  these  respects  ;  and  this 
improvement  demanded  and  encouraged  the  bestowal 
of  more  food  and  better  treatment,  and  so  they  pros- 
pered;— inheriting  their  constitutions  chiefly  from  the 
hardy  and  acclimated  dams,  the  grades  were  by  no 
means  so  delicate  and  sensitive  as  the  purebred  animals 
to  the  cold  and  changes  of  a  climate  very  unlike  that  of 
the  mild  and  fertile  region  where  they  originated. 

The  lethargic  temperament  characteristic  of  the 
Short-horn  and  which  in  the  grades  results  in  the 
greater  quietness  and  docility  so  highly  valued,  neces- 
sarily unfits  them  for  active  work ;  pure  bred  animals 
being  altogether  too  sluggish  for  profitable  labor. 
This  temperament  is  inseparably  connected  with  their 
aptitude  to  fatten  and  early  maturity,  and  these  both 
demand  abundant  and  nutritious  food  beyond  the  ability 
of  many  to  supply  and  at  the  same  time  are  incompati- 
ble with  the  activity  of  habit  and  hard  service  demanded 
of  the  workino'  ox. 


136  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


The  North  Devons  are  deemed  to  be  of  longer  stand- 
ing than  any  other  of  the  distinct  breeds  of  England, 
and  they  have  been  esteemed  for  their  good  qualities 
for  several  centuries.  Mr.  George  Turner,  a  noted 
breeder  of  Devons,  describes  them  as  follows  : — "  Their 
color  is  generally  a  bright  red,  but  varying  a  little  either 
darker  or  more  yellow ;  they  have  seldom  any  white 
except  about  the  udder  of  the  cow  or  belly  of  the  bull, 
and  this  is  but  little  seen.  They  have  long  yellowish 
horns,  beautifully  and  gracefully  curved,  noses  or  muz- 
zles white,  with  expanded  nostrils,  eyes  full  and  promi- 
nent, but  calm,  ears  of  moderate  size  and  yellowish 
inside,  necks  rather  long,  with  but  little  dewlap,  and 
the  head  well  set  on,  shoulders  oblique  with  small 
points  or  marrow  bones,  legs  small  and  straight  and 
feet  in  proportion.  The  chest  is  of  moderate  width, 
and  the  ribs  round  and  well  expanded,  except  in  some 
instances,  where  too  great  attention  has  been  paid  to 
the  hind  quarters  at  the  expense  of  the  fore,  and  which 
has  caused  a  falling  off,  or  flatness,  behind  the  shoulders. 
The  loins  are  first  rate,  wide,  long  and  full  of  flesh,  hips 
round  and  of  moderate  width  ;  rumps  level  and  well 
filled  at  the  bed ;  tail  full  near  the  rump  and  tapering 
much  at  the  top.  The  thighs  of  the  cows  are  occasion- 
ally light,  but  the  bull  and  ox  are  full  of  muscle,  with  a 
deep  and  rich  flank.     On  the  whole  there  is  scarcely 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  BREEDS.  I37 


any  breed  of  cattle  so  rich  and  mellow  in  its  touch,  so 
silky  and  fine  in  its  hair,  and  altogether  so  handsome  in 
its  appearance,  as  the  North  Devon,  added  to  which 
they  have  a  greater  proportion  of  weight  in  the  most 
valuable  joints  and  less  in  the  coarse,  than  any  other 
breed,  and  also  consume  less  food  in  its  production. 

As  milkers  they  are  about  the  same  as  most  other 
breeds ; — the  general  average  of  a  dairy  of  cows  being 
about  one  pound  of  butter  per  day  from  each  cow  dur- 
ing the  summer  months,  although  in  some  instances  the 
very  best  bred  cows  give  a  great  deal  more. 

As  working  oxen  they  greatly  surpass  any  other 
breed.  They  are  perfectly  docile  and  excellent  walk- 
ers, are  generally  worked  until  five  or  six  years  old, 
and  then  fattened  at  less  expense  than  most  other 
oxen." 

The  author  of  the  report  on  the  live  stock  shown  at 
the  exhibition  of  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society  at 
Warwick  in  1859  (Mr.  Robert  Smith)  says  : 

"  Although  little  has  been  written  on  it,  the  improve- 
ment of  the  Devon  has  not  been  neglected ;  on  the 
contrary,  its  breeding  has  been  studied  like  a  science, 
and  carried  into  execution  with  the  most  sedulous 
attention  and  dexterity  for  upwards  of  two  hundred 
years.  The  object  of  the  Devon  breeder  has  been  to 
lessen  those  parts  of  the  animal  frame  which  are  least 


138  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


useful  to  man,  such  as  the  bone  and  offal,  and  at  the 
same  time  to  increase  such  other  parts  (flesh  and  fat)  as 
furnish  man  with  food.  These  ends  have  been  accom- 
plished by  a  judicious  selection  of  individual  animals 
possessing  the  wished  for  form  and  qualities  in  the 
highest  degree,  which  being  perpetuated  in  their  pro- 
geny in  various  proportions,  and  the  selection  being 
continued  from  the  most  approved  specimens  among 
these,  enabled  the  late  Mr.  Francis  Quartly  at  length  to 
fully  establish  the  breed  with  the  desired  properties. 
This  result  is  substantially  confirmed  by  the  statistics 
contained  in  Davy's  'Devon  Herd-Book.'  We  have 
been  curious  enough  to  examine  these  pedigrees,  and 
find  that  nine-tenths  of  the  present  herds  of  these  truly 
beautiful  animals  are  directly  descended  (especially  in 
their  early  j)arentage)  from  the  old  Quartly  stock. 
Later  improvements  have  been  engrafted  on  these  by 
the  Messrs.  Quartly  of  the  present  daj^.  The  example 
of  various  opulent  breeders  and  farmers  in  all  parts  of 
the  country  has  tended  to  spread  this  improvement,  by 
which  the  North  Devon  cattle  have  become  more  gen- 
eral and  fashionable.  The  leading  characteristics  of 
the  North  Devon  breed  are  such  as  qualify  them  for 
every  hardship.  They  are  cast  in  a  peculiar  mold,  with 
a  degree  of  elegance  in  their  movement  which  is  not  to 
be  excelled.     Their  hardihood,  resulting  from  compact- 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  BREEDS.  I39 


ness  of  frame  and  lightness  of  offal,  enables  them  (when 
wanted)  to  joerform  the  operations  of  the  farm  with  a 
lively  step  and  great  endurance.  For  the  production 
of  animal  food  they  are  not  to  be  surpassed,  and  in 
conjunction  with  the  Highland  Scot  of  similar  preten- 
sion, they  are  the  first  to  receive  the  attention  of  the 
London  West-end  butcher.  In  the  show-yard,  again, 
the  form  of  the  Devon  and  its  rich  quality  of  flesh  serve 
as  the  leading  guide  to  all  decisions.  He  has  a  promi- 
nent eye,  with  a  placid  face,  small  nose  and  elegantly 
turned  horns,  which  have  an  upward  tendency  (and 
cast  outward  at  the  end)  as  if  to  put  the  last  finish  upon 
his  symmetrical  form  and  carriage.  These  animals  are 
beautifully  covered  with  silken  coats  of  a  medium  red 
color.  The  shoulder  points,  sides,  and  foreflanks  are 
well  covered  with  rich  meat,  which,  when  blended  with 
their  peculiar  property  of  producing  meat  of  first-rate 
quality  along  their  tops,  makes  them  what  they  are — 
'  models  of  perfection.^  Of  course,  we  here  speak  of  the 
best-bred  animals.  Some  object  to  the  North  Devon, 
and  class  him  as  a  small  animal,  with  the  remark,  'He 
is  too  small  for  the  grazier.'  In  saying  this  it  should 
ever  be  remembered  that  the  Devon  has  its  particular 
mission  to  perform,  viz.,  that  of  converting  the  produce 

of  cold  and  hilly  pastures  into  meat,  which  could  not 
13 


140  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


be  done  to  advantage  by  large-framed  animals,  however 
good  their  parentage/' 

The  Devons  have  been  less  extensively,  and  more 
recently,  introduced  than  the  Short-horn,  but  the 
experience  of  those  who  have  fairly  tried  them  fully 
sustains  the  opinions  given  above,  and  they  prom- 
ise to  become  a  favorite  and  prevailing  breed.  The 
usual  objection  made  to  them  by  those  who  have 
been  accustomed  to  consider  improvement  in  cattle  to 
be  necessarily  connected  with  enlargement  of  size,  is, 
that  they  are  too  small.  But  their  size  instead  of  being 
a  valid  objection,  is  believed  to  be  a  recommendation, 
the  Devons  being  as  large  as  the  fertility  of  New  Eng- 
land soils  generally  are  capable  of  feeding  fully  and 
profitdblij. 

Their  qualities  as  working  oxen  are  unrivalled,  no 
other  breed  so  uniformly  furnishing  such  active,  docile, 
strong  and  hardy  workers  as  the  Devons,  and  their 
uniformity  is  such  as  to  render  it  very  easy  to  match 
them.  Without  possessing  so  early  maturity  as  the 
Short-horns,  they  fatten  readily  and  easily  at  from  four 
to  six  years  old,  and  from  their  compact  build  and  well 
balanced  proportions  usually  weigh  more  than  one  ac- 
customed to  common  cattle  would  anticipate. 

The  Devons  are  not  generally  deep  milkers  but  the 
milk  is  richer  than  that  of  most  other  breeds,  and  some 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  BREEDS.  14^ 


families,  where  proper  care  and  attention  have  been 
given  to  this  quality  in  breeding,  yield  largely.  It  is, 
however,  as  a  breed  for  general  use,  combining  beef, 
labor  and  milk,  in  fair  proportion,  that  the  Devons  will 
generally  give  best  satisfaction,  as  they  are  hardy 
enough  to  suit  the  climate,  and  cheaply  furnish  efficient 
labor  and  valuable  meat. 

Farmers,  whose  ideas  upon  stock  have  been  formed 
wholly  from  their  experience  with  Short-horns  and  their 
grades,  have  often  been  surprised  at  witnessing  the 
facility  with  which  Devons  sustain  themselves  upon 
scanty  pasturage,  and  not  a  few  when  first  critically 
examining  well  bred  specimens,  sympathize  with  the 
feeling  which  prompted  the  remark  made  to  the  reporter 
of  the  great  English  Exhibition  at  Chester,  after  exam- 
ining with  him  fine  specimens  of  the  Devons — ''I  am 
delighted  ;  I  find  we  Short-horn  men  have  yet  much  to 
learn  of  the  true  formation  of  animals ;  their  beautiful 
contour  and  extreme  quality  of  flesh  surprise  me.'' 

The  Herefords  are  an  ancient  and  well  established 
breed,  and  are  probably  entitled  to  be  called  a  race. 
Little  is  known  with  certainty  of  their  origin  beyond 
the  fact  that  for  many  generations  they  can  be  traced 
as  the  peculiar  breed  of  the  county  whence  they  derive 
their  name.     Youatt  says  that  ''Mr.  Culley,  although 


142  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


(i 


an  excellent  judge  of  cattle,  formed  a  very  erroneous 
opinion  of  the  Herefords  when  he  pronounced  them  to 
be  nothing  but  a  mixture  of  the  Welsh  with  a  bastard 
race  of  Long  Horns,  They  are  evidently  an  aboriginal 
breed,  and  descended  from  the  same  stock  as  the 
Devon.  If  it  were  not  for  the  white  face  and  some- 
what larger  head  and  thicker  neck  it  would  not  at  all 
times  be  eas}''  to  distinguish  between  a  heavy  Devon 
and  a  light  Hereford.'^ 

Mr.  Gisborne  says  ''  The  Hereford  brings  good  evi- 
dence that  he  is  the  British  representative  of  a  widely 
diffused  and  ancient  race.  The  most  uniform  drove  of 
oxen  which  we  ever  saw,  consisted  of  five  hundred  from 
the  Ukraine.  They  had  white  faces,  upward  horns  and 
tawny  bodies.  Placed  in  Hereford,  Leicester  or  North- 
ampton markets,  they  would  have  puzzled  the  graziers 
as  to  the  land  of  their  nativity  ;  but  no  one  would  have 
hesitated  to  pronounce  that  they  were  rough  Here- 
fords." 

Mr.  Rowlandson,  in  his  prize  report  on  the  farming 
of  Herefordshire,  sa^^s  "■  The  Herefords,  or  as  they  have 
sometimes  been  termed,  the  middle  horned  cattle  have 
ever  been  esteemed  a  most  valuable  breed,  and  when 
housed  from  the  inclemency  of  the  weather,  probably 
put  on  more  meat  and  fat  in  proportion  to  the  food 
consumed,  than  any  other  variety.     They  are  not  so 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  BREEDS.  I43 


hardy  as  the  Xorth  Devon  cattle,  to  which  they  bear  a 

general  resemblance ;  they  however  are  larger  than  the 

Devons,    especially  the   males.     On   the   other"  hand, 

the   Herefords   are   larger   boned,  to  compensate   for 

which  defect,  may  be  cast  in  the  opposite  scale  the 

fact  that   the  flesh  of  the   Hereford  ox  surpasses  all 

other   breeds    for   that   beautiful   marbled    appearance 

caused  by  the  intermixture  of  fat  and  lean  which  is  so 

much  prized  by  the  epicure.     The  Hereford  is  usually 

deeper  in  the  chine,  and  the  shoulders  are  larger  and 

coarser  than  the  Devon.     They  are  worse  milkers  than 

the  Devon,  or  than,  perhaps,  any  other  breed,  for  the 

Hereford  grazier  has  neglected  the  female  and  paid  the 

whole  of  his  attention  to  the  male."     It  is  said  that 

formerly  they  w^ere  of  a  brown  or  reddish  brown  color, 

and  (iome  had  grey  or  mottled  faces.     Mr.  P.  TuUy 

states  that  the  white  face  originated  accidentally  on  a 

farm  belonging  to  one  of  his  ancestors.     ''That  about 

the  middle  of  the  last  century  the  cow-man  came  to 

the  house  announcing  as  a  remarkable  fact  that  the 

favorite   cow   had  produced  a  white  faced   bull   calf. 

This  had  never  been  known  to  have  occurred  before, 

and,    as  a   curiosity   it   was    agreed   that   the    animal 

should  be  kept  and  reared  as  a  future  sire.     Such,  in 

a  few  words,  is   the    origin  of  a  fact  that  has    since 

prevailed  through  the  country,  for  the  progeny  of  this 
13* 


144  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


very  bull  became  celebrated  for  white  faces."  Of  late 
years  there  has  been  much  uniformity  of  color ;  the 
face,  throat,  the  under  portion  of  the  body,  the  inside 
and  lower  part  of  the  legs  and  the  tip  of  the  tail  being 
white,  and  the  other  parts  of  the  body  a  rich  deep  red. 

Compared  with  the  Short-horn  the  Hereford  is  nearly 
as  large,  of  rather  less  early  maturity,  but  a  better 
animal  for  grazing,  and  hardier.  The  competition 
between  these  breeds  in  England  is  very  close  and 
warm,  and  taking  many  facts  together  it  would  seem 
probable  that  the  Hereford  is  in  some  instances  rather 
more  profitable,  and  the  Short-horn  generally  more 
fashionable.  Challenges  have  been  repeatedly  offered 
by  Hereford  men  to  Shorthorn  men  to  feed  an  equal 
number  of  each  in  order  to  test  their  respective  merits, 
and  have  usually  been  declined,  perhaps  because*if  the 
decision  was  against  them,  the  loss  might  be  serious, 
and  if  they  won,  the  gain  would  be  little  or  nothing, 
the  Short-horns  being  more  popular  already  and  com- 
manding higher  prices. 

As  working  oxen  the  Herefords  are  preferable  to  the 
Short-horns,  being  more  hardy  and  active.  Some  com- 
plaint is  made  of  their  being  "breachy."  Their  large 
frames  demand  food,  and  if  enough  be  furnished  they 
are  content,  but  if  not,  they  have  intelligence  and  ac- 
tivity enough   to  help   themselves  if  food  he  within 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  BREEDS.  I45 


reach.  Their  chief  merit  is  as  large  oxen,  for  heavy 
labor,  and  for  beef.  Some  grade  cows  from  good  milk- 
ing dams  give  a  fair  quantity  of  milk,  and  what  they 
give  is  always  rich,  but  wherever  they  have  been  intro- 
duced, milking  qualities  generally  deteriorate  very 
much. 

The  Ayrshires  are  a  breed  especially  valuable  for 
dairy  purposes.  Regarding  its  origin,  Mr.  Alton  who 
felt  much  interest  in  the  subject,  and  whose  opportuni- 
ties for  knowing  the  facts  were  second  to  those  of  no 
other,  writing  about  forty  years  since,  says,  "  The 
dairy  breed  of  cows  in  the  county  of  Ayr  now  so  much 
and  so  deservedly  esteemed,  is  not,  in  their  present 
form,  an  ancient  or  indigenous  race,  but  a  breed  formed 
during  the  memory  of  living  individuals  and  which  have 
been  gradually  improving  for  more  than  fifty  years  past, 
till  now  they  are  brought  to  a  degree  of  perfection  that 
has  never  been  surpassed  as  dairy  stock  in  any  part  of 
Britain,  or  probably  in  the  world.  They  have  increased 
to  double  their  former  size,  and  they  yield  about  four 
and  some  of  them  five  times  as  much  milk  as  formerly. 
By  greater  attention  to  breeding  and  feeding,  they  have 
been  clianged  from  an  ill-shaped,  puny,  mongrel  race  of 
cattle  to  a  fixed  and  specific  breed  of  excellent  color  and 
qualit3^  So  gradually  and  imperceptibly  were  im- 
provements in  the  breed  and  condition  of  the  cattle 


146  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


introduced,  that  although  I  lived  in  Ayrshire  from  1V60 
to  IT 85,  and  have  traversed  it  every  year  since,  I  have 
difficulty  in  stating  from  my  own  observation  or  what  I 
have  learned  from  others,  either  the  precise  period  when 
improvement  began,  or  the  exact  means  by  which  a 
change  so  important  was  wrought."  He  then  relates 
several  instances  in  which  between  1T60  and  17T0  some 
larger  cows  were  brought  in  of  the  English  or  Dutch 
breeds,  and  of  their  effect  he  says,  "I  am  disposed  to 
believe  that  although  they  rendered  the  red  color  with 
white  patches  fashionable  in  Ayr,  they  could  not  have 
had  much  effect  in  changing  the  breed  into  their  pres- 
ent highly  improved  condition,''  and  thinks  it  mainly 
due  to  careful  selections  and  better  treatment. 

Mr.  Alton  says  ''the  chief  qualities  of  a  dairy  cow 
are  that  she  gives  a  copious  draught  of  milk,  that  she 
fattens  readily  and  turns  out  well  in  the  shambles.  In 
all  these  respects  combined  the  Ayrshire  breed  excels 
all  others  in  Scotland,  and  is  probably  superior  to  any 
in  Britain.  They  certainly  yield  more  milk  than  any 
other  breed  in  Europe.  No  other  breed  fatten  faster, 
and  none  cut  up  better  in  the  shambles,  and  the  fat  is 
as  well  mixed  with  the  lean  flesh,  or  marbled,  as  the 
butchers  say,  as  any  other.  They  always  turn  out 
better  than  the  most  skillful  grazier  or  butcher  who 
are  strangers  to  the  breed  could  expect  on  handling 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  BREEDS.  I47 


them.  They  are  tame,  quiet,  and  feed  at  ease  without 
roaming,  breaking  over  fences,  or  goring  each  other. 
They  are  very  hardy  and  active,  and  are  not  injured 
but  rather  improved  by  lying  out  all  night  during  sum- 
mer and  autumn/' 

Since  Mr.  Alton  wrote,  even  greater  care  and  atten- 
tion has  been  paid  to  this  breed  than  before,  and  it  is 
now  well  entitled  to  rank  as  the  first  dairy  breed  in  the 
world,  quantity  and  quality  of  yield  and  the  amount  of 
food  required  being  all  considered.  Compared  with 
the  Jersey,  its  only  rival  as  a  dairy  breed,  the  milk  of 
the  Ayrshire  is  much  more  abundant,  and  richer  in 
caseine,  but  not  so  rich  in  oily  matter,  although  better 
in  this  respect  than  the  average  of  cows. 

Experience  of  their  qualities  in  this  country  shows 
that  if  they  do  not  here  fully  sustain  their  reputation  in 
Scotland,  they  come  near  to  it,  as  near  as  the  difference 
in  our  drier  climate  allows,  giving  more  good  milk  upon 
a  given  amount  of  food  than  any  other.  Upon  ordi- 
narily fertile  pastures  they  yield  largely  and  prove  very 
hardy  and  docile.  The  oxen  too  are  good  workers, 
fatten  well,  and  yield  juicy,  fine  flavored  meat. 

The  Jersey  race,  formerly  known  as  the  Aldernay, 
is  almost  exclusively  employed  for  dairy  purposes,  and 
may  not  be  expected  to  give  satisfaction  for  other  uses. 
Their  milk  is  richer  than  that  of  any  other  cows,  and 


148  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


the  butter  made  from  it  possesses  a  superior  flavor 
and  a  deep  rich  color,  and  consequently  commands  an 
extraordinary  price  in  all  markets  where  good  butter 
is  appreciated. 

The  Jersey  cattle  are  of  Norman  origin,  and  until 
within  about  twenty  or  thirty  years  were  far  more  un- 
inviting in  appearance  than  now,  great  improvement 
having  been  effected  in  their  symmetry  and  general 
appearance  by  means  of  careful  selections  in  breeding, 
and  this  without  loss  of  milking  properties.  The  cows 
are  generally  very  docile  and  gentle,  but  the  males 
when  past  two  or  three  years  of  age  often  become 
vicious  and  unmanageable.  It  is  said  that  the  cows 
fatten  readily  when  dry,  and  make  good  beef. 

There  is  no  branch  of  cattle  husbandry  which  prom- 
ises better  returns  than  the  breeding  and  rearing  of 
milch  cows.  Here  and  there  are  to  be  found  some 
good  enough.  In  the  vicinity  of  large  towns  and  cities 
are  many  which  having  been  culled  from  many  miles 
around,  on  account  of  dairy  properties,  are  considera- 
bly above  the  average,  but  taking  the  cows  of  the 
country  together  they  do  not  compare  favorably  with 
the  oxen.  Farmers  generally  take  more  pride  in  their 
oxen,  and  strive  to  have  as  good  or  better  than  any  of 
their  neighbors,  while  if  a  cow  will  give  milk  enough 
to  rear  a  large  steer  calf  and  a  little  besides,  it  is  often 
deemed  satisfactory. 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  BREEDS.  149 


Sheep. — The  sheep  first  introduced  into  this  country 
were  of  English  origin,  and  generally  not  very  dissimi- 
lar to  the  ancient  unimproved  Down  sheep.  Probably  Q 
some  were  these — as  many  of  the  first  cattle  were  the 
Devons  of  that  day.  More  than  fifty  years  since  the 
Merinos  were  introduced  and  extensively  bred.  At 
various  periods  other  choice  breeds  have  been  intro- 
duced. The  number  kept  has  fluctuated  very  much, 
depending  mainly  on  the  market  value  of  wool.  When 
it  was  high  many  kept  sheep,  and  when  it  fell  the  flocks 
were  neglected. 

The  true  mission  of  the  sheep  in  fulfilling  the  three- 
fold purpose  of  furnishing  food,  and  7'aiment,  and  the 
means  of  fertilization,  seems  not  yet  to  be  generally 
apprehended.  One  of  the  most  serious  defects  in  the 
husbandry  of  New  England,  at  the  present  time,  is  the 
prevalent  neglect  of  sheep.  Ten  times  the  present 
number  might  be  easily  fed,  and  they  would  give  in 
meat,  wool  and  progeny,  more  direct  profit  than  any 
other  domestic  animal,  and  at  the  same  time  the  food 
they  consume  would  do  more  towards  fertilizing  the 
farms  than  an  equal  amount  consumed  by  any  other 
animal. 

It  is  notorious  that  our  pastures  have  seriously  dete- 
riorated in  fertility  and  become  overrun  with  worthless 
weeds  and  bushes  to  the  exclusion  of  nutritious  grasses. 


150  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


Sheep  husbandly  has  declined.  If  these  two  facts  as 
uniformly  stand  to  each  other  in  the  relation  of  cause 
and  effect,  as  they  certainly  do  in  many  instances,  the 
remedy  is  suggested  at  once — replace  the  animal  with 
''golden  feet.''  After  devoting  the  best  land  to  culti- 
vation and  the  poorest  to  wood,  we  have  thousands 
upon  thousands  of  acres  evidently  intended  by  the 
Creator  for  sheep  walks,  because  better  adapted  for 
this  purpose  than  for  any  other.  An  indication  of 
Providence  so  unmistakable  as  this  should  not  be  un- 
heeded. 

The  Merinos  are  perhaps  the  most  ancient  race  of 
sheep  extant.  They  originated  in  Spain,  and  were  for 
ages  bred  there  alone.  In  1165  they  were  introduced 
into  Saxony,  where  they  were  bred  with  care  and  with 
special  reference  to  increasing  the  fineness  of  the  wool, 
little  regard  being  paid  to  other  considerations.  They 
were  also  taken  to  France  and  to  Silesia,  and  from  all 
these  sources  importations  have  been  made  into  the 
United  States.  The  Spanish  Merino  has  proved  the 
most  successful,  and  by  skill  and  care  in  breeding  has 
been  greatly  improved,  insomuch  that  intelligent  judges 
are  of  opinion  that  some  of  the  Vermont  flocks  are 
superior  to  the  best  in  Europe,  both  in  form,  hardiness, 
quantity  of  fleece  and  staple.  They  are  too  well  known 
to  require  a  detailed  description  here.     Suffice  it  to  say 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  BREEDS.  151 


that  they  are  below  rather  than  above  medium  size, 
possessing  a  good  constitution,  and  are  thrifty,  and 
cheaply  kept.  Their  chief  merit  is  as  fine  wooled  sheep, 
and  as  such  they  excel  all  others.  As  mutton  sheep 
they  are  constitutionally  and  anatomically  deficient, 
'  being  of  late  maturity  and  great  longevity,  (a  recom- 
mendation as  fine  wooled  sheep,)  having  too  flat  sides, 
too  narrow  chests,  too  little  meat  in  the  best  parts,  and 
too  great  a  percentage  of  offal  when  slaughtered. 
Their  mutton,  however,  is  of  fair  quality  when  mature 
and  well  fatted.  As  nurses  they  are  inferior  to  many 
other  breeds.  Many  careful,  extensive  and  protracted 
attempts  have  been  made  to  produce  a  breed  combining 
the  fleece  of  the  Merino  with  the  carcass  of  the  Leices- 
ter or  other  long  wooled  sheep.  They  have  all  signal- 
ly failed.  The  forms,  characteristics  and  qualities  of 
breeds  so  unlike  seem  to  be  incompatible  with  one 
another.  A  cross  of  the  Merino  buck  and  Leicester 
ewe  gives  progeny  which  is  of  more  rapid  growth  than 
the  Merino  alone,  and  is  hardier  than  the  Leicester. 
It  is  a  good  cross  for  the  butchers'  use,  but  not  to  be 
perpetuated.  Improvement  in  the  Merino  should  be 
sought  by  skillful  selection  and  pairing  the  parents  in 
view  of  their  relative  fitness  to  one  another. 

The  Leicester,  or  more  properly  the  Xew  Leicester, 
is  the  breed  which  Bakewell  established,  and  is  repeat- 

14 


152  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


edly  referred  to  in  the  preceding  pages.  It  has  quite 
superseded  the  old  breed  of  this  name.  Ilis  aim  was  to 
produce  sheep  which  would  give  the  greatest  amount 
of  meat  in  the  shortest  time  on  a  given  amount  of  food, 
and  for  early  maturity  and  disposition  to  fatten,  it  still 
ranks  among  the  highest.  The  objections  to  the  breed 
for  New  England  are,  that  they  are  not  hardy  enough 
for  the  climate,  and  require  richer  pastures  and  more 
abundant  food  than  most  farmers  can  supply.  Its  chief 
value  in  such  locations  is  for  crossing  upon  ordinary 
sheep  for  lambs  and  mutton. 

The  CoTswoLDs  derive  their  name  from  a  low  range 
of  hills  in  Gloucestershire.  These  have  long  been  noted 
for  the  numbers  and  excellence  of  the  sheep  there  main- 
tained, and  are  f;o  called  from  Cote,  a  sheepfold,  and 
Would,  a  naked  hill.  An  old  writer  says  : — "  In  these 
woulds  they  feed  in  great  numbers  flocks  of  sheep,  long 
necked  and  square  of  bulk  and  bone,  by  reason  (as  is 
commonly  thought)  of  the  weally  and  hilly  situation  of 
their  pastures,  whose  wool,  being  most  fine  and  soft,  is 
held  in  passing  great  account  amongst  all  nations.'' 
Since  his  time,  however,  great  changes  have  passed 
both  upon  the  sheep  and  the  district  they  inhabit. 
The  improved  Cotswolds  are  among  the  largest  British 
breeds,  long  wooled,  prolific,  good  nurses,  and  of  early 
maturity.     More  robust,  and  less  liable  to  disease  than 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  BREEDS.  I53 


the  Leicesters,  of  fine  symmetry  and  carrj'ing  great 
weight  and  light  offal,  they  are  among  the  most  popular 
of  large  mutton  sheep. 

The  South  Down  is  an  ancient  British  breed,  taking 
its  name  from  a  chalky  range  of  hills  in  Sussex  and 
other  counties  in  England  about  sixty  miles  in  length, 
known  as  the  South  Downs,  by  the  side  of  which  is  a 
tract  of  land  of  ordinary  fertility  and  well  calculated 
for  sheep  walks,  and  on  which  probably  more  than  a 
million  of  this  breed  of  sheep  are  pastured.  The  flock 
tended  by  the  "  Shepherd  of  Salisbury  Plain,"  of  whose 
earnest  piety  and  simple  faith  Hannah  More  has  told 
us  in  her  widely  circulated  tract,  were  South  Downs. 
Formerly  these  sheep  possessed  few  of  the  attractions 
they  now  present.  About  the  year  1782  Mr.  John 
EUman  of  Glynde  turned  his  attention  to  their  improve- 
ment. Unlike  his  cotemporary  Bakewell,  he  did  not 
attempt  to  make  a  new  breed  by  crossing,  but  by  atten- 
tion to  the  principles  of  breeding,  by  skillful  selections 
for  couplino'  and  continued  perseverance  for  fifty  years, 
he  obtained  w^hat  he  sought — health,  soundness  of  con- 
stitution, symmetrj'  of  form,  early  maturity,  and  facility 
of  fattening,  and  thus  brought  his  flock  to  a  high  state 
of  perfection.  Before  he  began  we  are  told  that  the 
South  Downs  were  of  ''small  size  and  ill  shape,  long 
and  thin  in  the  neck,  high  on  the  shoulders,  low  behind. 


154  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


high  on  the  loius,  down  on  the  rumps,  the  tail  set  on 
very  low,  sharp  on  the  back,  the  ribs  flat,"  &c.,  &c., 
and  were  not  mature  enough  to  fatten  until  three  years 
old  or  past.  Of  his  flock  in  It 94,  Arthur  Young'^  says  : 
"  Mr.  Ellman's  flock  of  sheep,  I  must  observe  in  this 
place,  is  unquestionably  the  first  in  the  country;  there 
is  nothing  that  can  be  compared  with  it ;  the  wool  is 
the  finest  and  the  carcass  the  best  proportioned ;  al- 
though I  saw  several  noble  flocks  afterwards  which  I 
examined  with  a  great  degree  of  attention ;  some  few 
had  very  fine  wool,  which  might  be  equal  to  his,  but 
then  the  carcass  was  ill-shaped,  and  many  had  a  good 
carcass  with  coarse  wool ;  but  this  incomparable  farmer 
had  eminently  united  both  these  circumstances  in  his 
flock  at  Glynde.  I  affirm  this  with  the  greater  degree 
of  certainty,  since  the  eye  of  prejudice  has  been  at  work 
in  this  country  to  disparage  and  call  in  question  the 
quality  of  his  flock,  merely  because  he  has  raised  the 
merit  of  it  by  unremitted  attention  above  the  rest  of 
the  neighboring  farmers,  and  it  now  stands  unrivalled." 
This,  it  will  be  noticed,  was  only  twelve  years  after  he 
began  his  improvements.  To  Mr.  Ellman's  credit  be  it 
said  that  he  exhibited  none  of  the  selfishness  which 
characterized  Mr.  BakewelFs   career,  but  was  always 

*  Annals  of  Agriculture,  Vol.  11,  p.  224. 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  BREEDS.  155 


ready  to  impart  information  to  those  desirous  to  learn, 
and  labored  zealously  to  encourage  general  improve- 
ment. That  he  was  pecuniarily  successful  is  evident 
from  the  continued  rise  in  the  price  of  his  sheep.  The 
Duke  of  Eichmond,  Mr.  Jonas  Webb,  Mr.  Grantham, 
and  other  cotemporaries  and  successors  of  Mr.  Ellman 
have  carried  successfully  forward  the  work  so  well  be- 
gun by  him.  The  Improved  South  Downs  now  rank 
first  among  British  breeds  in  hardiness,  constitution, 
early  maturity,  symmetry,  and  quality  of  mutton  and 
of  wool  combined.  The  meat  usually  brings  one  to  two 
cents  per  pound  more  than  that  of  most  other  breeds 
in  Smithfield  market.  It  is  of  fine  flavor,  juicy,  and 
well  marbled.  The  South  Downs  are  of  medium  size, 
(although  Mr.  Webb  has  in  some  cases  attained  a  live 
weight  in  breeding  rams  of  250  pounds,  and  a  dressed 
weight  of  200  pounds  in  fattened  wethers,)  hardy,  pro- 
lific, and  easily  kept,  suceeding  on  short  pastures,  al- 
though they  pay  well  for  liberal  feeding. 

The  Oxford  Downs  may  be  named  as  an  instance  of 
successful  cross-breeding.  They  originated  in  a  cross 
between  the  Improved  Cotswolds  and  the  Hampshire 
Downs."^     Having  been  perpetuated  now  for  more  than 

*  The  Hampshires  are  somewhat  larger  than  the  South  Downs, 
and  quite  as  hardy — the  fleece  a  ti-ifle  shorter.  The  Oxford  Downs 
are  not  to  be  confounded  with  the  Xew  Oxfordshires. 


156  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


twenty  years,  they  possess  so  good  a  degree  of  uniform- 
ity as  to  be  entitled  to  the  designation  of  a  distinct  breed, 
and  have  lately  been  formally  recognized  as  such  in  Eng- 
land. They  were  first  introduced  into  Massachusetts 
by  R.  S.  Fay,  Esq.,  of  Lynn,  and  into  Maine  by  Mr. 
Sears,  both  in  1854.  They  were  first  bred  with  a  view 
to  unite  increased  size  with  the  superiorit}^  of  flesh  and 
patience  of  short  keep  which  characterize  the  Downs. 
It  is  understood  that  they  inherit  from  the  Cotswold  a 
carcass  exceeding  in  weight  that  of  the  Downs  from  a 
fifth  to  a  quarter  ;  a  fleece  somewhat  coarser  but  heav- 
ier than  that  of  the  Downs  by  one-third  to  one-half; 
and  from  the  latter  they  inherit  rotundity  of  form  and 
fullness  of  muscle  in  the  more  valuable  parts,  together 
with  the  brown  face  and  leg. 

In  reply  to  a  note  of  inquiry  addressed  to  Mr.  Fay, 
he  says  :  "  I  selected  the  Oxford  Downs  with  some  hes- 
itation as  between  them  and  the  Shropshire  Downs, 
after  a  careful  examination  of  all  the  various  breeds  of 
sheep  in  England.  My  attention  was  called  to  them 
by  observing  that  they  took,  (1854,)  without  any  dis- 
tinct name,  all  the  prizes  as  mutton  sheep  at  Birming- 
ham and  elsewhere,  where  they  were  admitted  to  com- 
pete. They  were  only  known  under  the  name  of  half 
or  cross  bred  sheep,  with  name  of  the  breeder.  Mr. 
Rives  of  Virginia  and  myself  went  into  Oxfordshire  to 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  BREEDS.  157 


luok  at  them,  and  so  little  Avere  they  known  as  a  class, 
that  Philip  Pusey,  Esq.,  President  of  the  Koyal  Agii- 
cultural  Society,  knew  nothing  about  them,  although 
one  of  his  largest  tenants,  Mr.  Druce,  had  long  bred 
them.  It  is  only  within  two  years  that  they  were  for- 
mally recognized  at  a  meeting,  I  believe,  of  the  Smith- 
field  club,  and  they  then  received  the  name  which  I 
gave  them  years  ago,  of  Oxford  Downs.  By  this  name 
they  are  now  known  in  England.  I  can  only  add  that 
an  experience  of  six  years  confirms  all  that  is  claimed 
for  them.  Fifty-two  ewes  produced  seventy-three 
healthy  lambs  from  February  13th  to  March  15th,  this 
year.  The  same  ewes  sheared  an  average  of  more  than 
seven  pounds  to  the  fleece,  unwashed  wool,  which  sold 
for  34  cents  per  pound.  A  good  ram  should  weigh  as 
a  shearling  from  180  to  250  pounds  :  a  good  ewe  from 
125  to  160  pounds.  They  fatten  rapidly,  and  thrive  on 
rough  pasture.  My  flock,  now  the  older  and  poorer 
ones  have  been  disposed  of,  will  average,  I  have  no 
doubt,  eight  pounds  of  wool  to  the  fleece.  The  mutton 
is  exceedingly  fine  and  can  be  turned  into  cash  in  18 
months  from  birth.'' 


158  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDIxNG. 


The  kind  of  sheep  most  desirable,  on  the  whole,  in  any. 
given  case,  depends  chiefly  on  the  surface,  character 
and  fertility  of  the  farm  and  its  location.  At  too  great 
a  distance  from  a  good  meat  market  to  allow  of  a  profit- 
able sale  of  the  carcass,  the  Spanish  Merino  is  doubt- 
less to  be  preferred,  but  if  nearer,  the  English  breeds 
will  pay  better.  Mutton  can  be  grown  cheaper  than 
any  other  meat.  It  is  daily  becoming  better  apprecia- 
ted, and  strange  as  it  may  seem,  good  mutton  brings  a 
higher  price  in  our  best  markets  than  the  same  quality 
does  in  England.  Its  substitution  in  a  large  measure 
for  pork  would  contribute  materially  to  the  health  of 
the  community. 

Winter  fattening  of  sheep  may  often  be  made  very 
profitable  and  deserves  greater  attention,  especially 
where  manure  is  an  object — (and  where  is  it  not  ?)  In 
England  it  is  considered  good  policy  to  fatten  sheep  if 
the  increase  of  weight  will  pay  for  the  oil  cake  or  grain 
consumed  ;  the  manure  being  deemed  a  fair  equivalent 
for  the  other  food,  that  is,  as  much  straw  and  turnips 
as  they  will  eat.  Lean  sheep  there  usually  command 
as  high  a  price  per  pound  in  the  fall  as  fatted  ones  in 


PRACTICAL  SUGGESTIONS.  159 


the  spring-,  while  here  the  latter  usually  bear  a  much 
hig'her  price,  which  gives  the  feeder  a  great  advantage. 
The  difierence  ma}^  be  best  illustrated  by  a  simple  cal- 
culation. Suppose  a  wether  of  a  good  mutton  breed 
weighing  80  pounds  in  the  fall  to  cost  6  cents  per  pound 
($4.80)  and  to  require  20  pounds  of  hay  per  week,  or 
its  equivalent  in  other  food,  and  to  gain  a  pound  and  a 
half  each  week,  the  gain  in  weight  in  four  months 
would  be  about  25  pounds,  which  at  6  cents  per  pound 
would  be  $1.50  or  less  than  $10  per  ton  for  the  hay 
consumed ;  but  if  the  same  sheep  could  be  bought  in 
fall  for  3  cents  per  pound  and  sold  in  spring  for  6  cents, 
the  gain  would  amount  to  $3.90  or  upwards  of  $20  per 
ton  for  the  hay — the  manure  being  the  same  in  either 
case. 

For  fattening  it  is  well  to  purchase  animals  as  large 
and  thrifty  and  in  as  good  condition  as  can  be  done  at 
fair  prices  ;  and  to  feed  liberally  so  as  to  secure  the 
most  rapid  increase  which  can  be  had  without  waste  of 
food. 

The  fattening  of  sheep  by  the  aid  of  oil  cake  or  grain 
purchased  for  the  purpose,  may  often  be  made  a  cheaper 
and  altogether  preferable  mode  of  obtaining  manure 
than  by  the  purchase  of  artificial  fertilizers,  as  guano, 
superphosphate  of  lime,  &c.  It  is  practiced  exten- 
sively and  advantageously  abroad  and  deserves  at  least 
a  fair  trial  here. 


IGO  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


Horses. — It  does  not  seein  necessary  in  this  connec- 
tion to  give  descriptions  of  the  various  breeds  of  horses, 
as  comparatively  few  of  our  animals  can  fairly  be  said 
to  be  of  any  pure  or  distinct  varieties.  Names  are 
common  enough,  but  the  great  majority  of  the  horses 
among  us  are  so  mixed  in  their  descent  from  the  breeds 
which  have  been  introduced  at  various  times  from 
abroad,  as  to  be  almost  as  near  of  kin  to  one  as  to 
another.  Success  in  breeding  will  depend  far  more 
upon  attention  to  selection  in  regard  to  structure  and 
endowments  than  to  names.  Although  it  may  be 
somewhat  beyond  the  scope  of  an  attempt  to  treat 
merely  of  the  principles  of  breeding  to  offer  remarks 
regarding  its  practice,  a  few  brief  hints  may  be  par- 
doned ;  and  first,  let  far  more  care  be  taken  in  respect 
of  breeding  mares.  Let  none  be  bred  from  which  are 
too  old,  or  of  feeble  constitution,  or  the  subjects  of 
hereditary  disease.  No  greater  mistake  can  be  made 
than  to  suppose  that  a  mare  fit  for  nothing  else,  is  wor- 
thy to  be  bred  from.  If  fit  for  this,  she  is  good  for  much 
else — gentle,  courageous,  of  good  action,  durable  and 
good  looking  ;  outward  form  is  perhaps  of  less  import- 
ance than  in  the  male,  but  serious  defect  in  this  greatly 
lessens  her  value.  She  should  be  roomy,  that  is  the  pelvis 
should  be  such  that  she  can  well  develop  and  easily 
carry  and  deliver  the  foal.      Youatt  says,    "it  may, 


PRACTICAL  SUGGESTIONS.  l^l 


j)erliaps,  be  justly  affirmed  that  there  is  more  difficulty 
in  selecting-  a  good  mare  to  breed  from,  than  a  good 
horse,  because  she  should  possess  somewhat  opposite 
qualities.  Her  carcass  should  be  long  to  give  room 
for  the  growth  of  the  foetus,  yet  with  this  there  should 
be  compactness  of  form  and  shortness"^  of  leg. '^ 

The  next  point  is  the  selection  of  a  stallion.  It  is 
easy  enough  to  say  that  he  should  be  compactly  built, 
''having  as  much  goodness  and  strength  as  possible 
condensed  in  a  little  space, '^  and  rather  smaller  rela- 
tively than  the  mare,  that  he  should  be  of  approved 
descent  and  possess  the  forms,  properties  and  charac- 
teristics which  are  desired  to  be  perpetuated.  It  is 
not  very  difficult  to  specify  with  tolerable  accuracy 
what  forms  are  best  adapted  for  certain  purposes,  as  an 
oblique  shoulder,  and  depth,  rather  than  width,  of  chest 
are  indispensable  for  trotting  ;  that  in  a  draft  horse  this 
obliquity  of  shoulder  is  not  wanted,  one  more  upright 
being  preferable,  and  so  forth  ;  but  after  all,  a  main 
point  to  secure  success  is  relative  adaptation  of  the 
parents  to  each  other,  and  here  written  directions  are 
necessarily  insufficient  and  cannot  supply  the  place  of 
skill  and  judgment  to  be  obtained  only  by  careful  study 
and  practical  experience ;  nor  is  it  always  easy,  even  if 

*  Mr.  Youatt  here  probably  refers  to  length  below,  rather  than 
above,  the  knee  and  hock. 


162  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


fully  aware  of  the  necessary  requirements,  to  find  them 
in  the  best  combination  in  the  horses  nearest  at  hand. 
A  stallion  may  be  all  which  can  be  desired  for  one  dam 
and  yet  be  very  unsuitable  for  another.  In  this  aspect 
we  can  perceive  how  valuable  results  may  accrue  from 
such  establishments  as  now  exist  in  various  sections  of 
the  country,  where  not  a  single  stallion  only  is  kept, 
but  many,  and  where  no  pains  nor  expense  are  spared 
to  secure  the  presence  of  superior  specimens  of  the 
most  approved  breeds,  and  choice  strains  of  blood  in 
various  combinations ;  so  that  the  necessary  require- 
ments in  a  sire  are  no  sooner  fairly  apprehended  than 
they  are  fully  met.  On  this  point  therefore,  my  sug- 
gestion is,  that  this  relative  adaptation  of  the  parents 
to  one  another  be  made  the  subject  of  patient  and  care- 
ful study ;  and  a  word  of  caution  is  offered  lest  in  the 
decisions  made,  too  great  importance  be  attached  to 
speed  alone.  That  speed  is  an  element  of  value  is  not 
doubted,  nor  do  I  intimate  that  he  who  breeds  horses 
to  sell,  may  not  aim  to  adapt  his  wares  to  his  market 
as  much  as  the  man  who  breeds  neat  cattle  and  sheep, 
or  the  man  who  manufactures  furniture  to  sell.  But  I 
do  say  that  speed  may  be,  and  often  has  been,  sought  at 
too  dear  a  rate,  and  that  bottom,  courage,  docility  and 
action  are  equally  elements  of  money  value  and  equally 
worthy  of  being  sought  for  in  progeny.     Nor  is  it  un- 


PRACTICAL  SUGGESTIONS.  163 


likely  that  an  attempt  to  breed  for  these  last  named 
qualities,  with  a  proper  reference  to  speed,  would  result 
in  the  production  of  as  many  fast  horses  as  we  now  get, 
and  in  addition  to  this,  a  much  higher  average  degree 
of  merit  in  the  whole  number  reared. 

Another  suggestion  may  not  be  out  of  place.  Ilith- 
erto  (if  we  except  fast  trotting)  there  has  been  little 
attention  paid  to  breeding  for  special  purposes,  as  for 
draft  horses,  carriage  horses,  saddle  horses,  etc.,  and  the 
majority  of  people  at  the  present  time  undoubtedly 
prefer  horses  of  all  work.  This  is  well  enough  so 
long  as  it  is  a  fact  that  the  wants  of  the  masses  are 
thus  best  met,  but  it  is  equally  true  that  as  population 
increases  in  density  and  as  division  of  labor  is  carried 
farther,  it  will  be  good  policy  to  allow  the  horse  to 
share  in  this  division  of  labor,  and  to  breed  with  refer- 
ence to  different  uses  ;  just  as  it  is  good  policy  for  one 
man  to  prepare  himself  for  one  department  of  business 
and  another  for  another.  The  same  principle  holds  in 
either  case. 

Sufficient  attention  has  never  been  paid  to  the  break- 
ing and  training  of  horses.  Not  one  in  a  thousand 
receives  a  proper  education.  It  ought  to  be  such  as  to 
bring  him  under  perfect  control,  with  his  powers  fully 
developed,  his  virtues  strengthened  and  his  vices  erad- 
icated.    What  usually  passes  for  breaking  is  but  a  dis- 


164  PRINCIPLES  OF  BREEDING. 


tant  approximation  to  this.  The  methods  recently 
promulgated  by  Rarey  and  Baucher  are  now  attracting 
attention,  and  deservedly  too,  not  merely  for  the  imme- 
diate profit  resulting  from  increased  value  in  the  sub- 
jects, but  in  view  of  the  ultimate  results  which  may  be 
anticipated  ;  for,  as  we  have  seen  when  treating  of  the 
law  of  similarit}^  acquired  habits  maj^  in  time  become 
so  inbred  as  to  be  transmissible  by  hereditary  descent. 


Library 
N.  C.  State  College 


